Mario and Luigi: The Mask
by TimeLordParadox
Summary: Luigi is tired of constantly living in his brothers shadow and reputation. He wants to be the hero for once and this could this be his chance when he finds a cursed mask which grants the wearers inner desires, but is being the hero worth losing his mind?
1. Prologue

**Authors Notes: **Nice title ay? Short and to the point :D

Mario and Luigi and Super Mario Brothers are owned by Nintendo

The Mask is owned by Darkhorse Comics

The Mask of this story is based off the Mask of the Newline cinema movie.

I'm going to add small hints of the more violent comic mask into this story as well but nothing too extreme, yet.

Unlike some of my other mask stories where the mask is passed around the main characters this one brings a primary Mask wearer, as in someone who usually wears the Mask while other characters get either one or two turns with it.

Also this is my first fan fiction for the Mario brothers, so I hope I've done the characters justice.

Rated K+ for now.

Anyway, enough of the authors notes.

-enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>MARIO AND LUIGI<strong>

**THE MASK**

**By TimeLordParadox**

**(Aka Ross Pickering)**

**Prologue**

A sea of thousands and thousands of Koopa's moved through the valley, tall turtle like creatures who marched perfectly in time with each other, stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp. It was music to his ears. King Daker Koopa was proud of his Koopa's, they were the ultimate fighting force ever created they efficiently battled the residence of their rivals, the Mushroom Kingdom almost into submission.

Darker Koopa was a larger looking version of the turtle like Koopa's only with spikes sticking out of his shell and burnt, yellow hair sticking up from his scalp and down the back of his head. He also possessed two mighty looking horns that made him look the part of a ruler of the Koopa's.

The empire of the Koopas and the Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom had always been at war with each other, the turtle like Koopa's and the Mushroom like Toads, they couldn't remember what had started this rivalry all those years ago and they no longer cared, all they knew was that they were supposed to hate each other and fight each other. So it was unexpected when the leaders of these two mighty factions came together to forge a temporary alliance. Am alliance born out of necessity because there was something far more dangerous than the Toads and Koopa's combined lurking these lands. A monster who has been terrorizing both empires for weeks and they were currently hunting it with the intent to end its evil once and for all.

The creature was impenetrable to their attacks and much more deadly than anything they could throw at it but they had noticed one weakness with this creature. It hated the daylight, whenever they battled this creature it always retreated with the rising sun and today they had used this weakness to their advantage, they had caught the creature in a pincer movement that would effectively surround and trap it. All they had to do was wait for dawn, which wouldn't be long, they could already see the sky on the distance horizon becoming lighter and lighter. They mustn't allow this creature to escape again, they mustn't.

"Find it!" Daker roared "Find it! It must not be allowed to escape again!" he was getting edgy, he'd seen the terrible power this creature had, it could massacre thousands of their kind and not suffer a single scratch or break a sweat. Their last battle was a truly terrible sight to witness, almost half his entire army had been wiped out by this one single creature. It must be destroyed once and for all or it would be the end of all of them.

"You're Koopa's are frightfully incapable of defeating this thing, Daker" said a well spoken voice next to him.

The massive lizard form of Daker turned to look down at the little man next to him. Compared to Daker the old man was short, he only came up to his knee but he was a similar height to most Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom. This was King Andran, the leader of the Mushroom Kingdom, a great leader that represented everything Daker despised. Decency, charity, generosity all of it he despised with every fibre of his being but he put those prejudices aside for the moment but he wouldn't have this old fool criticise the efficiency of his Koopa's.

"Mind your tongue King Andran" Daker barked at his temporary alley "this alliance is only in place as long as the monsters heart still beats blood!"

"But can we find it if it changes its form again?" Andran asked, he was always a cautious old bird. When Daker caught that monster he'd make it pay for what it's done to them, he'll have it executed and the magic object which granted this thing its power will be destroyed once and for all.

"It can't run forever, its dawn it'll be weakening and we have it trapped" Darker stated

"We should never have interfered with forces we don't understand" King Andran said

"King Daker, King Andran!"shouted a Koopa who was running towards them as fast as his short legs could carry him. It was one of Darkers informant runners, the Koopa king had ordered immediate information updates when the foul creature was discovered. "I think we've found it" the Koopa said as he panted from his run and tried to catch his breath. "We've tracked it to a warp pipe in the middle of the valley."

"Then it's got away?" King Andran said almost at the point of fuming. A warp pipe was a special kind of portal which transported whoever jumped into it to a completely different part of the world. If that monster had escaped into a warp pipe then it could come out anywhere.

"I don't think so, sir" the Koopa added quickly "During our last battle with the Toads, when we were still enemies, we had the pipe filled in and it hasn't been cleared since, so it's trapped itself, there's no way out."

"Are you sure?" Daker asked in a hurry his massive form casting a shadow over the shorter Koopa Troopa, if the thing was trapped then they had it at last.

"I'm sure, I saw it jump into the pipe myself" the Koopa said. Daker turned to Andren who had also turned to look at him, this was perfect.

"Take us to it!" Daker then insisted.

It didn't take long for the Koopa to lead King Daker and Andren, accompanied by thousands of Koopas to the small warp pipe, which looked like just a large green pipe sticking up out of the ground and large enough to swallow a man whole. The Koopa's surrounded the pipe and pointed their spear's and other assorted weapons at it in case the monster were to raise itself up. Not that it would, not now, it was daylight so the powers of this creature would be gone. As the large King of Koopas and the small King of the Toads approached the warp pipe they could hear a low growl coming from the pipe and from inside its dark interior they could make out a faint green glow.

This was their chance to kill it once and for all, it was at their mercy. They could transport and pour a large amount of lava into the pipe, but that didn't work the last time. They could try acid or drop large boulders down to stone him to death, but it had stood up to much worse so there was no guarantee that could stop it either. They also didn't have any allowances that the thing, the magic object that caused all of this would die with the creature. There was one thing they hadn't tried yet though and it might just work. Both Daker and Andren turned to a group of Koopas.

"Burry it alive!" they ordered. At first the Koopa's and Toads just stared at them hardly able to believe their rulers had given such a callous order as calmly as they did. But it was for the best, they couldn't risk that thing down there surviving nor could they risk the object, the artefact falling into the wrong hands again, it was far too dangerous for either the Koopa's or the Toads to have and this was the only way to get rid of it once and for all. The Koopa's and Toads did as instructed, a group of half a dozen had picked up spades and shovels and were digging up and dropping hard clay and soil on top of the creature inside the pipe.

They had one extra bit of insurance to make sure the creature remained where it was and didn't try to climb back up again, a powerful spell that would effectively trap it inside the warp pipe forever until the end of time, or until someone found it and broke the seal on the spell.

King Andren held up his magic sceptre, the red jewel in its tip beginning to glow a bright white colour as he cast the spell.

"Ooooh, Loki!" he said in the voice of a magician casting a spell "The evil lord of mischief, we seal your power forever inside this pipe of pure iron and forever banish you from the mortal world with this seal of earth. You will remain entombed and your power will remain sealed away from us mere mortals..."

The other Koopa's and Toads helped bring more and more earth from the surrounding plains to help fill the deep pipe and as they buried it and Andren continued to cast his spell the place started to get darker and darker. Mysteriously, storm clouds were ominously creeping out from nowhere. The rumble of thunder echoed from high above as Andren came to the end of the incantation and the last spots of earth fell into place, burying the thing alive.

"...Now sleep demon sleep!" he commanded of it pointing the sceptre at the pipe "and may the gods have mercy on the fool who finds you!" at these words a loud crack of thunder echoed around the valley making all the Koopa's and Toads jump in fright, the heavens opened up and within seconds it began to rain heavily.

With the job finished and the creature finally sealed away forever the two halves decided to go their separate ways. They both agreed that the name and location of that warp pipe must remain a secret and that everything about the creature and the artefact should be erased from the history books so no one ever went looking for the thing and its terrible power.

Kind Andren left the valley back to the Mushroom Kingdom as King Daker and his Koopa's finished with the task of removing the rest of the pipe from the ground. They'd used saws and hammers and bashed at the pipe until it gave way and they peeled it off before burying what remained of it. If you didn't know there was once a pipe there you'd never have suspected there ever was one.

Daker then made a questionable order, one which most of his Koopa's didn't expect. He ordered the remaining pipe taken back to the castle and for all his forces from every corner of this land to withdraw back to Koopa Castle.

"But sir?" one of his Koopa's had asked "Isn't this land ours?"

Daker had replied. "Not anymore this land is cursed, let King Andren and the Mushroom Kingdom have it."

* * *

><p>As the centuries past the two empires rose, fell and rose again and fell again, their boarder shifted and their alliance's with each other fell apart almost immediately allowing everything to fall back into war. As the face of the landscape changed the dead and buried creature and the artefact remained mostly undisturbed, mostly in that people had walked over it, maybe felt a cold shiver but otherwise forgot all about it. A town was built over its remains and as time progressed still an entire Kingdom was raised on top of it, Toad Town and the castle of the Mushroom Kingdom.<p>

Today many things have changed throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, the Toads and the Koopa's still have a rivalry of sorts but it's not as serious or as bloody as it was. The Koopa's now have a new leader, King Bowser Koopa, the Mushroom Kingdom is now under the rule of Princess Peach Toadstool and the defence of the whole kingdom often rested on the shoulders of two moustached plumbers. Things have changed but the tomb of the creature remained completely undisturbed, until today.

Deep beneath the Mushroom Kingdom lay a very complex sewer system which runs from every house in Toad town to a river on the other side of the valley. However something odd has been found as David and Robert Packer, a couple of Koopa plumbers inspected the sewer system. They were there because the Toads had planned to extend Toad town into another region and the two plumbers were called in to assess and build the drainage system to channel the waste into the sewer, however on digging through the soft rock they'd found something. It looked like the end of a long forgotten warp pipe in the middle of the sewer, one which wasn't even on the map. Either way, they now had to unblock it to see where it came out however the going had been tough because it was full of soil and stones.

"This pipe's been blocked for who knows how long!" Robert complained in a slightly whiny voice "Why do they want it clearing now?" It didn't make sense to have this pipe here at all in the middle of the sewer, where could it go that would be useful? But still the Mushroom Kingdom planning office demanded they dig into it and find out where it lead before they would allow them to continue with the work.

"Who knows and who cares?" said David, his older brother. Yeah a couple of Koopa brother plumbers like the Mario's, Robert had thought when David had suggested the idea. No one will think we stole that idea from somewhere. They were both highly trained plumbers but they often had a problem getting work because of another pair of brother plumbers who already existed and were regarded as the best. Mario and Luigi, the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom, the best of the best, not content with just making sure the Mushroom Kingdom's drains were clog free they went as far as to protect the Mushroom Kingdom from the sinister King Bowser Koopa.

"Either way it's paying work" David said concluding his last sentence and he entered the pipe a little and started digging more and more of the soil out of the pipe using a pick axe.

"Come on!" he yelled at Robert "Don't just stand, help me!"

"But wait, Dave!" Robert called to his brother "Health and safety says..."

"...Stuff health and safety" Dave shouted back as he found what looked like some tree roots in the soil, he took them in his hands and began to pull on them as hard as he could. "Now come over here and help me, help me give this a tug" he said as he pulled hard on the tree root, but nothing budged.

Robert didn't want to argue with his older brother, he was insufferable enough when they were at home so he went ahead and grabbed another root and pulled as hard as he could. Robert was sure the soil plug was starting to move now as they both pulled. Why did his shoes suddenly feel wet?

Robert looked down at his black work shoes and found that they were wet because there was water running over them. Where the heck had that come from? Wait, the water over his shoes was running and moving out of the pipe into the sewer yet it was replaced by more water all the time. The further this solid soil plug seemed to slip towards them the more and more water appeared to seep out. Robert suddenly knew where this was probably going. The soil and the roots which were twisted into it began to slide out like a cork from a bottle and as it moved closer and closer towards the exit Robert had a bad feeling it 'was' going to come out like a cork in a bottle.

"Umm" Robert muttered "I don't think this was such a good ide..." the solid wall suddenly came out and rammed into them, firing them both out of the pipe like a bullet and the soil 'plug' as it seemed to be was followed by a torrent of water which sprayed out above them. The water torrent carried them along the track they had come from. They were both forced out into the sewer reservoir and landed in the large body of stinking, putrefying sewer water.

Robert held his breath as he tried to swim madly towards the surface again and didn't want to think about what he was actually swimming through. He surfaced and took a great gulp of air, it tasted as bad as it smelled but it was air at least. Dave had surfaced just ahead of them. The soil plug had broken up as it impacted the water and debits littered the water everywhere and began to be carried by the flow of the sewer canals.

From the pipe a great deal of dark brown coloured water was flowing out, most of it appeared to be full of old leaves, stones and twigs thankfully because Rob didn't want to think what that brown liquid might otherwise have been. They were in a sewer after all.

"I got it unblocked at least" David said. Robert turned to him and incredulously said "Yeah, but now we're all wet, I'll have to take a shower when we get back and have you seen all that water! We've probably drained the castle moat!"

David ignored him as they both made slow progress through the deep water towards a nearby platform and climbed back out, trailing water as they walked.

"I wonder what caused that blockage anyway" Robert wondered, why did they –whoever they were- pile so much soil and stones into the pipe? What were they trying to do?

"I don't know but it's gone now" David said as he clapped his hands together for a job wall done "That's the main thing. Come on, let's go for a coffee break while the water drains."

True, Robert supposed, they weren't going to find out where the pipe went until that water stopped flowing and by the look of it that might be some time which probably meant it was going to flood the entire sewer for a couple of hours before its finally drained out. So might as well go for a coffee break as David suggested and wait for the waters to drain, and so they left the pipe unattended.

Which means no one was looking when something flowed out of the pipe with the rest of the soil and muck. Unlike its brown, water logged surroundings this object was much more solid. It bobbed up and down in the water as it dropped from the pipe into the sewer system and began flowing with the rest of the waste water. It had been waiting for so long trapped at the bottom of that pipe for centuries, now it was free again.

The object that centuries ago had been called 'the artefact' was in fact an old green, wooden mask. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it, just a piece of mouldy wood with a solid metal bar running halfway down the front of it riveted into place. It looked like something which would belong in a museum or, to some a piece of junk, but maybe those people would reconsider if they noticed it start to glow a slight shade of green as it floated away deeper into the sewer system. But it didn't matter where the sewer took it, it was free at long last, free to do what it's been doing for centuries, terrible things because the wearer of this mask is cursed with a power no one can ever hope to tame or control, and it unleashes something equally untameable on the wearer... themselves.

The Mask had returned.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> The main inspiration for this story was in the game manual for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the manual mentions that Luigi is capable of producing a 'Negative Zone' that slows enemies down, and that its caused by a lifetime of Luigi constantly being living in the shadow of his brothers much more impressive reputation and I thought that was the perfect subject for a Super Mario/Mask crossover.

The characters King Andren and King Daker are both characters I've invented for this story. They are supposed to have lived centuries before the Mushroom Kingdom rose to what it is in the present. Also the idea that the Toads and the Koopa's have been fighting each other for centuries was also –as far as I know- invented by me.

The prologue is based on a deleted opening scene from the Mask movie.

The two Koopa plumbers David and Robert are characters I've created for this story and are based off Del Boy and Rodney from 'Only Fools and Horses.' I may bring them back into the story but I haven't decided yet.

I'm intending to do something very special with this story, so don't touch that dial, or the backspace key ;)


	2. The Good Loser

**Chapter 1**

**The Good Loser**

Life according to Luigi was anything but simple. He'd trained as a plumber with his brother Mario and they both founded "Mario Brothers Plumbing 'no leak is too small'", but that's where the simplicity in his life ended because he never expected his job to go from cleaning out dirty toilet bowls and unclogging sinks to fighting giant turtles and lizard creatures and saving the entire Mushroom Kingdom and its princess from an evil lizard overlord. It was a job he at times didn't care for but went along with it only because it was the decent and heroic thing to do. It also happened to be a job he and his brother were both doing right now.

Mario, a short, fat man with a bushy, well trimmed moustache wearing blue overalls with a red shirt and a red flat cap with the letter M on it stood next to Luigi who on the other hand was tall, lanky, wearing blue overalls with a green shirt and flat cap with the letter L printed on the front of it.

Both the plumbers were soaring backwards in the air having avoided an attack by their enemy. They were quite a ways up because they both had the odd ability to jump more than five times their natural height and they were rapidly falling back to the ground again, so now they had to get ready to land.

Mario landed expertly on the ground in a kneeling position, but when Luigi landed however he lost his footing and fell forwards onto his face, the impact of which knocked the wind out of him.

They were both in the middle of the main throne room of the Mushroom Kingdom castle, a large room decorated to the finest standard in the Mushroom Kingdom and all done out in the colour of peach. A loud whining noise signified the approach of a flying object high above them, it was a white bowl shaped vehicle with a green propeller sticking out the underside spinning rapidly to keep it in the air. The hovering bowl had a clown face painted crudely and rather creepily on it and from the top of it, sticking her arms out and waving them in terror was Princess Peach Toadstool, a blond haired woman with a rosy completion, a slender, curvy form who was wearing a long, glamorous dress of bright peach which was a mixture of different styles.

"Mario! Luigi! Help me!" she screamed in her gentle voice, even while in desperate danger her voice still sounded soft. However they soon lost sight of her as a giant, yellow, scaly claw with long, sharp nails suddenly rose up behind her and pushed her back down into the bowl. The next sight, despite being predictable, nearly made Luigi jump in terror because of the quickness of it, the head of a massive yellow and green lizard creature rose up and chuckled darkly to himself in triumph.

King Bowser Koopa, leader of the Koopa's and enemy to the Mushroom Kingdom, was currently in the middle of one of his plans for conquering the Mushroom Kingdom by kidnapping the Princess again. It had been the same plan over and over and over again and again, and again for years and yet again both he, Luigi and Mario will have to rescue her but if the green plumber had to be honest most of those times it had been Mario by himself but he tried to not let that dampen his spirits, he just had to focus on one thought 'I am a hero, I am a hero, I am a hero' something a friend of his told him to think and believe because if Luigi had to be honest he wasn't as brave as his older brother. So focused on the thought 'I am a hero' that he was missing what was going on in front of him.

Bowser this time had apparently just stormed the castle with little or no resistance and just snatched Peach from the throne room, unfortunately for Bowser he attacked and snatched Peach at the same time both he and Mario were going to pay Peach a visit. How on earth did Bowser keep getting in here anyway? His large bulk and lizard looks weren't exactly inconspicuous, and didn't the Toad guards ever try to stop him or something?

"You two are here in record time" said Bowser in a deep throaty voice, unaware that they were only both just outside the door at his chosen the time to attack. His ridicules looking vehicle, called the Clown Car circled around above them "Just in time to witness the capture of Peach by me, Bowser Koopa Bwahahaha!"

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" an elderly Toad muttered as he stood next to Peaches vacated Throne, this was Toadsworth, he was a creature known as a Toad and looked like a brown Mushroom creature with arms and legs and a big white moustache. He was advisor and protecting guardian to the Princess and a fine job he was doing of it right now. "Mario, Luigi stop him! He's got Peach!" he shouted at both Luigi and Mario to do 'his' job.

"Huh?" Bowser said removing his gaze from the two plumbers to face Toadsworth "That's what I've just said, stop repeating everything I say!" He yelled at the shorter Toad.

"Don't worry Princess, Mario and Luigi are here to rescue you" he shouted cupping his hands over his mouth as he yelled.

"She's knows that already, she just saw them!" Bowser growled at him as Toadsworth opened his mouth to speak again "Stop it!" Bowser warned "You're ruining the moment!"

"You'll never get away with this Bowser" Toadsworth shouted "Mario and Luigi will stop you"

Bowser growled yet again and took the controls of his Clown Car. The expression on the Clown Cars face began to alter, they became meaner and evil looking as the Clown Car suddenly dropped down rapidly towards Toadsworth. He screamed and both Mario and Luigi stood powerless to stop Bowsers vehicle from crushing him.

But then a long, pink tongue fired from the other side of Peaches Throne and wrapped itself around Toadsworth and pulled him out of the way just in time as the underside and propeller of the Clown Car slammed into the ground where the Toad had been not a second ago. The vehicle rapidly rose up again leaving only a little damage to the throne which now had multiple slices cutting through it.

Toadsworth had been saved by Yoshi, one of Mario and Luigis more unusual allies. He was a Yoshi creature like his name sake and was a green lizard who stood on his hind legs which were clad in red boots and his arms were long and unlike most dinosaur type creatures possessed opposable thumbs. His long, frog like tongue had saved Toadsworth from being crushed under Bowsers vehicle and he was now uncoiling it from around Toadsworth's waist.

Toadsworth was safe at least but as Luigi looked up he saw a sight which made his eyes widen. Bowsers Clown Car was raising up but then was rapidly coming straight back down towards them instead! Both he and Mario screamed and dodged out of the way as the vehicle came slamming down onto where they had been stood a second ago.

The vehicle rose up and was preparing to come back down on top of them again. Unable to face this odd contraption both of the plumbers turned tail and ran for their lives as the thing came down again to swat them.

It was a standard attack on that vehicle and one of the most devastating if it could land correctly. They had defeated Bowser and his Clown Car on several different occasions because usually Bowser would throw out what were called Mecha Koopa's, mechanical whined up Koopa's which they'd first had to disable then toss into the top of the Clown Car's bowl and smacked into Bowser's head until he lost control of his vehicle. Unfortunately, this time Bowser had finally wised up and not thrown those whined up Koopa's out, instead he was going to defeat them directly.

The Clown Car came crashing to the ground just behind Luigi and he screamed as the entire room shook violently from the impact. Mario also let out a little concerned yelp when the thing rose and came back down again missing them just by inches.

The thumping stopped but Luigi kept running for his life fearing that the vehicle was about to slam back down again the moment he stopped running. But then he noticed Mario wasn't running by his side anymore, where was he? Did Bowser's flying bowl get him?

"Luigi! Luigi!" he heard his brother shout at him, he was alive!, and Luigi stopped short of the large double doors of the throne room in front of him and turned around to see the Clown Car gently hovering in the air. Mario was knelt down ready for any chance to attack but was also glancing back at his green brother who had continued running while the danger had passed.

"Whoops" Luigi muttered a little embarrassed rushed back to join his brother.

"Bowser!" Toadsworth shouted at the giant lizard "That was a rotten, dirty trick!"

"I know, great wasn't it!" the lizard chuckled loudly again finding his own cruel behaviour amusing. Then the giant lizard turned to regard both Luigi and Mario again, his eyes were dark and his massive jaw smiled showing those long sharp, white teeth of his.

"This is the end for you Mario and ugh... ugh..." he hesitated as his gaze fell on Luigi, he scratched his head for a moment as he strained to remember "...Green Mario"

"Hey!" Luigi shouted at the massive lizard his annoyance momentarily pushing his fear out of the way "I'm Luigi!" why could this guy never remember his name?

"Whatever!" Bowser batted the comment aside "Mario brothers, this is the end for you. I've brought a new toy for you to play with. Prepare yourself to face..." he paused as if to give a dramatic air to his next words "... the WEAPON!"

_The WEAPON? Seriously, that's the best name he could come up with?_ Luigi thought. It wasn't a very specific name and not particularly scary but even if it did have a cheesy name it was probably something bad. The Clown Car had a cheesy name and looked ridicules, yet it was deadly.

Bowser's ridicules vehicle then rose up and tilted itself back pointing the underside at both of them. A small circular panel opened up in the underside and a long cannon shaped pipe extended from this panel, it looked cannon shaped because it was, in fact, a cannon, a cannon which slowly started to emit a low whine as it charged up.

Mario and Luigi were poised to fight this thing while they noticed their ally, Yoshi seemed more occupied with a bowl of candy and sweets by the Princess' throne. His long tongue snaked out and scooped up large amounts of candy before shovelling it all into his mouth and swallowing it in one gulp.

"Hey, Yoshi!" Mario shouted distracting the lizard from his lunch "Why are we doing all the work? Will you stop stuffing your face and help us out here!"

"Yeah, get over here you ravenous reptile!" Luigi added. The green dino actually took notice, he finished chewing his mouthful and gulped it down in one go before he jumped, and covered a great distance in that one leap, to stand between Mario and Luigi against this new weapon of Bowsers.

The whine from the cannon reached an ear splitting level and the dark inner tube began to glow an evil looking shade of red. Suddenly a loud blasting noise came from the cannon and a large, round sphere of energy fired from the mussel and headed straight towards them! As it came closer and closer both Mario and Luigi felt the intense heat this orb gave off.

"Look out!" Mario shouted but it was far too late to do anything, the sphere was moving so fast that at the moment it left the cannon Luigi knew it was going to hit them. As he watched the large red orb Luigi reached up and rammed his cap down over his head and gently blubbered to himself as his entire body shivered. He didn't want to die here and now.

But then Yoshi their famished friend opened his mouth wide and his long, pink tongue fired out of his mouth like a missile and impacted the deep red orb and... guided it into his mouth where he swallowed and absorbed it in one gulp. Yoshi could breath fire at times so it was logical he was able to eat fire as well.

Another giant fire ball fired from the cannon of the Clown Car and Yoshi again opened his mouth and shot his tongue out and swallowed the fire orb. Several more followed and all of them Yoshi devoured before they even got close enough to them to give them sun burn.

Seeing this really lifted Luigi's spirits, Bowsers powerful devastation WEAPON had been defeated by Yoshi's bottomless stomach. The green plumber nearly laughed when he saw Bowsers face twist into a mask of rage and fury and he smashed his powerful fist down into the dash of his Clown Car.

Giving up on that attack the Clown Car righted, the cannon receded back into it and its Clown face turned from its angry, evil look back to its usual creepy smile. Just then Bowser disappeared down into the contraption, it was probably too much to hope for that Bowser was just going to give up, give them the Princess and go away, and Luigi was right because the Clown Car suddenly inverted and from the opening in the top dropped a large, dark grey ball the size of a truck! It impacted the ground with a thud and began to rapidly roll straight towards them!

Spooked, all three heroes took off and ran away from this massive marble that would crush and kill them if it caught up with them. Yoshi suddenly jumped and crossed Luigi's running path nearly causing him to run into the clumsy lizard, but he landed safely out of the spheres way. Mario then jumped out of the path of this giant orb leaving only Luigi to run. He couldn't jump out of the way, he was too frightened and he feared that it was too close, if he tried he might get crushed so he just kept on running, running for the open Throne room doors, they were smaller then the giant bowling ball so hopefully they would stop it in its path.

A group of Toads had gathered around the throne room entrance and were watching the battle occurring before them. Luigi waved his arms for them to part, to scatter, get out of his way, and they did as he crossed the threshold. He felt the orb slam into the door frame and the enter hall shook with the impact, so much so that Luigi lost his footing and fell face first onto the floor with a smack.

Feeling slightly humiliated but no more so than usual he got up and turned around. The walls around the door frame had long cracks in it, but it had held, the giant ball was wedged between the two sides of the frame and had halted its progress. Unfortunately it had also blocked the only entrance into the throne room and that meant Mario was stuck on the other side with Bowser and Luigi couldn't help him now.

He got to his feet and tried to push the heavy sphere out of the way, but his efforts were in vane because the giant pin ball was just too heavy for him to simply push out of the way.

Beside him stood another Toad, one who wore a red waist coat and had a small, slight brown moustache growing under his almost none existent nose. The Toad regarded him with a look which showed what he thought of Luigi, that he was pathetic. Luigi felt bad enough for that but it was even more upsetting when the Toad uttered a single word that, with Luigi's diminished confidence seemed to ring true about him.

"Useless"

* * *

><p>"HAHAHA, that's your clutsy brother out of the way" Bowser cackled, he loved taking the Mario's by surprise like that, they always seemed to forget he had a giant ball in his car ready to roll them down into pan cakes. The attack had failed of course, but it got Mario's scrawny brother out of the way leaving only Mario himself to deal with. "It's time to finish this." Bowser said as he took the controls of his Clown Car and angled up the vehicle so the WEAPON which was now extending back out from under his Clown Car was pointing directly at Mario.<p>

The fat plumber ran over to the green Yoshi and jumped into the saddle on his back, but it didn't matter, he was still in Bowser sights. "I'm going to unleash the full force of the WEAPON!" Bowser cackled adjusting controls in his vehicle.

As Bowser attempted to power up the cannon however weak feeble hands came out of nowhere and softly grabbed his wrists trying to pull is arms away from the controls. Peach though was helpless and weak when compared to his bulky muscled form, he just pushed her aside with a gentle swipe of his arm and chuckled darkly "Hehe, I like a girl with a little fight in her."

The cannon began to glow bright red again as Bowser pumped as much power into the Weapon as he could.

"WARNING, WARNING OVERLOAD!" came a loud warning from the cannon's speakers but Bowser didn't notice. He just stared excitedly at the massive glowing red ball that had formed on the very mussel of the cannon.

"Better get ready Mario, because here it comes!" Bowser said as he stabbed at the fire button and the orb blasted off from the cannon and headed straight towards Mario and Yoshi. Bowser was confident that at long last this would be the end of Mario, Bowser's mechanics had assured him that the Weapon on full power would blast a large area into dust, though he didn't consider that blasting it off inside a small room would put himself in danger as well he just didn't care as long as Mario was finally out of the picture.

But what his engineers at his castle hadn't counted on was Yoshi, because the ravenous reptile had opened his mouth as wide as he could and his long tongue fired out and guided the giant orb down into his mouth and snapped his jaws shut again! The reptiles cheeks were ballooned out as he contained it but slowly his head started to turn a bright shade of red and started to sweat, Bowser didn't know if he was imagining it but was steam starting to pour out of his ears?

"Let him have it Yoshi!" Mario said looking at Bowser with a triumphant look that made Bowser realise what was about to happen next. Yoshi opened his mouth again and from it came, not the glowing red orb, but a massive jet of flame that impacted the underside of Bowser's vehicle. Bowser pulled himself further inside his vehicle to shield himself from the flames that continued to lick at its edges.

As he looked down the Koopa King was starting to get very nervous about the underside of his Clown Car, which was starting to get very hot and even start to glow red, he began to jump from one foot to the other as the red hot floor burnt his bare feet, Peach however was unharmed because she was wearing heels. The bowl shaped craft then suddenly juddered and swayed.

When the flames were finally gone Bowser leapt at the controls again and tried to wrestle control of his craft, but it wasn't responding correctly, no matter what he did the Clown Car refused to obey his commands. The damage had already been done, his craft was not built to stand up to such intense heat and he was losing control of it. Another judder and a sway and the vehicle suddenly inverted so fast that Bowser grabbed onto the control stick to steady the vehicle, but it had the opposite effect on the craft.

While upside down Peach fell from the Clown Car and landed on the ground in a heap. Bowser didn't care about Peach right now though because his craft had gone into a very worrying barrel roll which made controlling the thing all the more awkward.

Then suddenly the craft decided it wanted to go in a particular direction, straight up, into the ceiling which Bowser broke through with his head. He watched the castle began to rapidly shrink away into the distance as his Clown Car carried him rapidly away from it and Bowser continued to fight to maintain control of his out of control craft.

* * *

><p>Luigi pushed and pushed with all his might on the giant ball blocking the entrance and so were dozens of other Toads until the giant ball rolled out of the way of the door just enough for Luigi to squeeze through. When he did he raced in front of the ball and adopted a fighting stance that looked very clumsy and not very convincing he realised only after he had adopted it.<p>

But it hardly mattered anymore because Bowser and his Clown Car had vanished leaving a massive hole in the ceiling through which you could see a clear blue sky. Mario leapt off Yoshi's back and helped Peach to her feet after she apparently fell from Bowser's ridicules looking vehicle. Standing at her full height which was twice that of Mario's, she leant forward and kissed him on his large nose, and the short, plump plumber started to blush a deep red that made his face look like a hairy radish.

"Oh bravo, old bean, bravo!" said Toadsworth as he came to congratulate Mario on another job well done. Luigi felt a little crestfallen, he could've had his chance to be the hero for once, to save the Princess and the Mushroom Kingdom, and Mario again had beaten him to the punch. A little battered and bruised Luigi slowly approached the small party in the middle of the throne room congratulating Mario.

"Bowser won't come back in a hurry" Toadsworth said "If he tries to take the Princess again then I'll give him the old one four!" Toadsworth said punching air.

"Hey, Luigi you look a little worse for wear big, little bro" Mario commented cheerily as Luigi came nearer, but Luigi just sighed deeply, he was tired and hungry and he had been frightened half to death and humiliated and he wanted nothing more than to go home.

"Master Luigi?" Toadsworth asked "are you alright?"

"Of course he's not alright!" said a new harsh sounding voice that sounded like it had no sympathy in it at all, a voice that caught Luigi's attention. He turned to see the Toad who had been standing at the door to the throne room, the one with the moustache that had called him 'useless' a few moments ago.

"He's a cluts, a coward, gullible and useless!" again that word 'useless' echoed in Luigi's mind, because that's how he felt, he felt like he was useless but the Toad didn't stop there he kept going on "Why does Mario put up with you when all you ever do is run away?" Luigi looked back to Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, the one everybody always remembered, the one pretty much everyone admired. "If Mario wasn't even with you, you wouldn't even try to help!"

Luigi gulped and tried to fight back tears which were welling up in his eyes, tears because the Toad was right, if Mario wasn't around would he have had the courage to fight Bowser?

"Hey! Leave my little, big brother alone!" Mario said coming to stand between Luigi and the Toad.

"Indeed, this is not acceptable behaviour from you Toadlop" Toadsworth said in a stern manner "If it wasn't for my relief that the Princess is safe then you'd be out on your ear, but as I am in a generous mood, I will let you off with a warning but if you upset anyone in the castle again you will be ejected. Is that understood?" Toadlop didn't reply at first but by the way he glanced away at the far wall refusing to meet Toadsworth's gaze showed he still had respect for the old Toad. "Now, apologise to Luigi!"

"Fine!" Toadlop said as he turned to face Luigi. Luigi was feeling slightly better but still felt a little worthless because after all, yet again Mario had stepped in to protect his younger brother. "Sorry... Luigi" Toadlop said like this was difficult for him. But as he turned and started to walk away Luigi heard him mutter the words "Still doesn't change what he is."

Luigi sniffed as more tears started to well up in his eyes again.

"Hey, Luigi are you okay?" Mario asked as Luigi rather pathetically sank to his knees.

"No, I'm not alright" Luigi blubbered placing his hands over his head, "He's right, I am a cluts, I am a coward, and I am useless." Years all this had been building up and only now was he venting it, but he just had to say it now because although he'd often thought all this in his head it was very different to hear it spoken aloud by other people who thought the same about him.

"Hey, come on, you're not useless to me" Mario said kneeling down and placing a supportive hand on his brothers shoulder "What would I have done in the haunted mansion years ago if you didn't come to rescue me?" Mario was referring to an incident long ago, when Luigi won a mansion in a contest that he didn't even enter.

"But that was MY fault!" Luigi insisted, "I was gullible enough to think people gave away mansions as prizes, and I asked you to meet me there. If I hadn't bought that scam I wouldn't have asked you to go to the mansion ahead of me in the first place and you wouldn't have gotten caught."

"But Luigi" Mario tried to insist "you fought your way through dozens of ghosts, ghouls and boos to rescue me, don't forget that."

"But I'm still a cluts!" Luigi said blubbering again.

"Oh, come now Luigi" Toadsworth said rapping his cane to get Luigi's attention "Now I won't have that, all you need is to practice your moves a little more, after all practice makes perfect"

"And you and Mario are both hero's of the Mushroom Kingdom" said a new speaker, Princess Peach had joined in to raise his spirits but this actually made Luigi feel even more pathetic that the usual damsel in distress was trying to make the hero feel better "Come on Luigi, you're the Mario Brothers, no one can think of Mario without Luigi by his side."

"And I believe you would've been just as brave as me if you were the one going on all these adventures alone" Mario said supporting smiling under his moustache "Remember when we went into space? You always wanted to go into space, and remember you helped me a great deal by finding those power stars, I couldn't have done it without you."

"Re...really?" Luigi sniffed.

"Of course, and remember when Bowser kidnapped Peach in her own castle?" Luigi remembered it quite vividly, he had been locked up in a broom cupboard for days before Mario rescued him to help save Peach yet again. But Mario had also been locked up in a broom cupboard so it wasn't as if Luigi had been the only one stupid enough to fall for the trick Bowser used to catch them. "And remember, when you rescued Wario from that broom cupboard?" Luigi did remember quite vividly as well. Wario was really annoyed when Luigi rescued him that he'd found himself laughing at the much larger man with more muscle then brain. Then he hit Luigi rather hard in the middle of the face for it, but it was still a funny moment, one that let the weight in his stomach lift, the water works in his eyes shut off and he chuckled.

"If it hadn't been for you helping me collect power stars we'd never have rescued Peach that time either." Mario said more encouragingly.

"Yeah, you're right!" Luigi got back to his feet a great pride swelling in his stomach, Mario was right he was just as brave as his he was, maybe even more so because he was scared of ghosts and he fought a whole mansion full of them to rescue his brother. "I am just as important! If it wasn't for me helping you out we'd never have rescued Peach at all!"

Though he said this Luigi was sure he caught some Toad somewhere saying. "Oh boy, Mario's really overdone it."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Both Mario and Luigi are actually really difficult characters to write for because there are very few lines they speak in the games so I've had to improvise some of the way. But at the same time this allows me to be a little creative and base the characters on what I've seen in the games and the old TV series'.

The events mentioned by Mario occur in Super Mario Galaxy, Mario 64 DS, and Luigi's haunted mansion.

Mario is more difficult to create lines for because besides being a skilled plumber who loves pasta and Peach, and is really heroic there seems to be very little much to his personality.

Luigi has a lot more in terms of personality. Though he's like Mario in that he's a plumber who likes Italian food he has a fear of ghosts and is often scared of getting hurt or into trouble, yet at the same time he seems to have a large ego in that he sometimes sees himself as the number one hero despite Mario being much more well known and more heroic.

I've also modified my writing style slightly, rather than introduce the characters in my usual fashion I've put them all in the same room together and just kicked started the story with a battle between the plumbers and Bowser.

Toadlop is another character I've created especially for the story as the voice of Luigi's real attitude towards himself.

Anyway, more to come soon...


	3. General Karnage

**Chapter 2**

**General Karnage**

Stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp, the sound of marching, stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp, music to his ears, stamp, stamp, stamp stamp.

General Karnage, or so he called himself, loved drills, and marching, and military order. Something Bowser's koopa troopa's badly need. The Koopas were very clumsy, unbalanced and disorganised. It was no wonder they were always beaten into submission by a high jumping plumber.

Karnage, like the others, was a green shelled koopa except he was a little taller and a bit more imposing then the others mostly because his left eye was missing lost in a battle years ago, replaced by an eye patch, and had a pair of large, bushy, threatening looking, brown eyebrows.

"One two, one two, one two, one two, come on move it!" he shouted at his koopas. 'His' platoon of Koopas were marching around Bowser castle, exercise was important after all. Each one standing with backs straight, each one swinging their legs in time with the others, perfect military precision. Karnage was convinced that when these Koopa's were ready they would beat back and defeat Mario as easily as swatting a fly.

Of course the Koopa's moaned and groaned about how Bowser didn't make them do stuff like this, but he was not Bowser and they were under his command so they will do as he says.

A strange sounding whine began to fill the air, a whine Karnage had heard many times before. It was the noise Bowser's clown car makes when it comes into land, only the noise it was now making was off, as if it was struggling.

He looked up and saw the creepy clown face appeared overhead rapidly losing height with smoke billowing out from the spinning propeller in its underside.

Suddenly the vehicle inverted and Bowser, whether accidental or deliberate Karnage couldn't tell, fell from the flying bowl and slammed into the ground with such force Karnage felt the ground shake. The clown car, now without an operator began to roll over itself out of control before it too slammed into the ground and exploded into a cloud of dust and fire.

The spectacle had attracted the attention of his Koopa Troopa's, who had stopped marching to stare at their larger leader who lay face down on the ground and didn't move.

"WHAT YOU ALL LOOKING AT!" Karnage shouted moving through the crowd ushering them to get moving again "GET MARCHING AGAIN, ONE TWO, ONE TWO!"

The Troopers stood still for a second glancing at Karnage then at Bowser and back again, obviously deciding who they feared the most. "I SAID GET BACK TO MARCHING!" he shouted again. That little push was enough and the Koopa Troopa's began marching again, away from both Karnage and Bowser.

Bowser had landed on his head, so Karnage reasoned he'd be okay. He's been through far worse injuries then this, he's been dropped into a pool of lava several times so this shouldn't phaze him. Bowser began to groan and raised his giant hand and felt his head.

"Did you get the princess oh Bowser, King of all Koopas?" Karnage asked causally and sarcastically because he naturally knew the answer.

Bowser slowly got to his feet a little unsteadily swaying on his feet. He looked at Karnage as if he didn't know who he was.

"Princess?" his heavy voice thundered "What Princess?"

"Princess Peach, of course." Karnage said. Bowser closed his eyes and felt his head again and groaned.

"Princess Peach, did I get princess Peach?" he said his mind still foggy. "No" he finally said, snapping back to normal "No, I did not!" he shouted "I nearly did though, I almost had her. If it wasn't for Mario I'd have had Peach, I would've had her years ago!"

He stamped his foot down in frustration causing a bang of noise and the ground shake.

"If I might ask King Bowser" Karnage said trying his best not to inflame Bowser's already shortened temper. "Why do we want to kidnap Peach in the first place?" Bowser looked at him as if the answer was obvious.

"Why, WHY?" he shouted "Because that's what I'm supposed to do, I kidnap the Princess and the hero has to cross several worlds to get her back. That's how it works."

"But why, what exactly is the point?" he asked "sir" he added a second later.

"To conquer the Mushroom Kingdom of course" Bowser announced "Koopa's have been trying to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom for centuries." He paused for a second before adding "Plus, I think Peach is kinda cute in her own non-monstrous way."

"Oh... right" Karnage said with contempt "But we can just as easily conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by invading it with our army of Koopas, and with my leadership..."

"SILENCE!" Bowser opened his mouth wide to shout this at him. Karnage held his ground but nearly ganged at Bowser's breath, it was so rotten and disgusting that he could kill Mario just by breathing on him. "You are new here General Karnage, this is how it all works here."

"Perhaps that's the problem" Karnage said with enough defiance to get his point across while at the same time trying to convey respect, despite the fact that he thought Bowser was an utter idiot. "We keep doing the same thing, over and over and over, no wonder Mario always knows how to defeat you he's done it several times over."

"Then what do you suggest?" Bowser said crossing his thick arms over his chest, mockingly eager to hear what Karnage could come up with. Karnage had to think quickly if he was going to impress Bowser.

"Well, listen. The only thing stopping you from kidnapping Peach is Mario right?" Karnage asked as a plan began to form in his head.

"Him and his weakling brother, umm...umm... green Mario"

"Luigi?" Karnage corrected. "Well why don't we kidnap Luigi?" he suggested.

"WHAT! Ugh!" Bowser said and looked utterly repulsed "That had better be a joke Karnage, because it's not a funny one. Why kidnap Luigi instead of Peach? I wouldn't gain anything and to kiss such a hairy face every night just turns my stomach."

At first Karnage didn't speak, the one eye he had grew a little larger and his mouth hung open a little waiting for words to be spoken as he processed what he'd just heard. "What 'are' you talking about?"

"What are 'you' talking about?" Bower countered, his face beginning to relax probably realising he must've misunderstood what Karnage meant.

"I mean, instead of kidnapping Peach we should kidnap Luigi. Think about it. Mario would then have to cross several worlds to rescue him, first" Karnage explained.

"Oh... yeah. I knew that" Bowser said unconvincingly.

"Then while Mario is distracted with that quest we can easily sneak into the Mushroom Kingdom, kidnap Peach, and when Mario realised Peach has also been kidnapped..." Karnage continued sensing that Bowser was catching on and liking this plan "it would be far too late, the Mushroom Kingdom will be yours."

Bowser's massive jaws curled up into an evil looking smile and he chuckled darkly "Brilliant, a brilliant idea" he announced straightening himself up a little and his back audibly creaked "I'm glad 'I' thought of it."

"Yes, a brilliant plan from your evil genius brain" Karnage said the words laced with sarcasm and feeling a little deflated that Bowser was going to take credit for his idea, but he didn't dare say anything. Keeping Bowser happy was his way working his way up to the top.

"Karnage" Bowser announced as if the shorter Koopa wasn't listening to him "Send out your best troopa's to kidnap... the 'Taller, Greener Mario' immediately" he tried to straighten up a little further and his back cracked even louder than before, he bent over again his eyes streaming with pain. "Carry on" he said turning around "I'm... going to lay down."

Bowsers massive form began stamping away down the hill towards the castle, cutting a line straight through the Koopa's marching in line, knocking them down and pushing them out of the way. "What the heck are you all doing running around the place? Get out of my way!"

"He would lose his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders" general Karnage sighed.

* * *

><p>Luigi was slowly making his way home as the sun started to descend down to below the horizon, and what a lovely sun set it was. The sky was clear and the setting sun cast a strong shade of red, 'a red sky at night, a Sheppard's delight' Luigi thought to himself. The next morning was going to be good, he could just feel it in his bones.<p>

The green plumber felt a lot better after having that talk with Mario, he was just as brave and just as important to the survival of the Mushroom Kingdom and the safety of Peach as Mario was. In fact Luigi wouldn't be surprised if Mario was been defeated a long time ago if Luigi hadn't been there to help him out of difficult situations like the haunted mansion, ah it was great to be alive.

Luigi glanced back up at the night sky to see the millions of stars slowly coming out to replace the blue and red sky. It looked like it would be a clear night tonight. He wondered briefly if he should get his telescope from under his bed and do a little star gazing tonight or if he should put a record on to help him settle down for the night or maybe settle down with his book or maybe even...

"Help, help me, someone help me!" shouted a woman just a little farther down his path. She wore a long yellow robe and hood which hid her rather angular looking face in a lot of shadow. Luigi, hearing the cry of someone in distress immediately leapt into action ready to save the day again. He ran towards the old woman and came to a stop just in time before he could clumsily fell down an open manhole right in the middle of the street.

Composing himself quickly to look as heroic as possible he addressed the woman "I'm Luigi" he stated "What's the problem?"

"Oh, thank goodness you've arrived" the old woman said, Luigi wasn't sure but the old woman's angular looking chin under the hood looked strangely familiar. "My son has fallen down this man hole please, oh please save him."

This was it, this was his chance! A chance to show everyone exactly how brave he is by jumping into that deep, dark hole with no light source to save a small boy trapped in the sewer system. This was his chance to show what Luigi was made off! But... on the other hand... it did look rather dark down there. He hesitated for a second as he considered again what to do, no sense haphazardly jumping in if he couldn't find his way out again.

"Please hurry, he may be hurt!" the old woman pleaded and again Luigi found that spark of pride in his stomach that reignited that heroic fire in his heart.

"Okay, leave it to me!" Luigi said getting ready to jump into the man hole, "Never fear..." and he jumped up high into the air "...Luigi's here!" and went straight down into the man hole, into the deep darkness.

Unfortunately for Luigi what he didn't see a few seconds later was the rather scrawny woman giggled mischievously and motioned to someone down a nearby dark alley to come out. From it came a short man with many bulging muscles, a broad frame and a thick moustache that zigged zagged, he wore light purple and yellow overalls and a yellow hat with the letter W on it, a similar attire to both Mario and Luigi. Wario, the alter ego to Mario chuckled darkly as he carried a manhole cover over his head and slammed it down on top of the open hole sealing it completely.

The old woman threw off her disguise revealing a tall, scrawny man with a zigzag moustache and purple coloured overalls and a matching cap with an inverted L on it, this was Wario's brother, Warluigi the alter ego to Luigi and together they made a mischievous pair of bullies called the Wario brothers.

* * *

><p>Okay, he was down here and as a far as Luigi could tell there was no child here, but then again it was very dark he could barely see. It was also very damp as if this place had just recently been flooded and then drained. He was a plumber and he understood this sewer system really well having helped Mario countless times unclog sinks in this Kingdom but without a light he could hardly see a thing. If the light from the man hole was extinguished then he would be in trouble, and with the sun going down fast he'll have to make this quick or he wouldn't be able to see a thing.<p>

"Hello!" he called "Anyone down here?" his voice echoed back at him. An echo that was interrupted by a loud clang and all the light in the sewer was extinguished. "Hey, who put out the lights?" Luigi shouted, "Hello, can someone uncover that man hole, I can't see!" he called out, but then he heard it, the loud laugh of a joker playing a joke, of someone having sprung a trick, laughs that he recognised as the laughs of the Wario brothers.

It was only just starting to sink in. He couldn't find a child down here because there was no child down here, it was just a trick to get him into the sewer so they could slam the man hole down on top of him. He was tricked. How could he have been so stupid to fall for such an obvious trick? He thought he had the chance to prove himself as much a hero to everyone as Mario and to help a defenceless old woman get her son back, but by the sound of it the old woman wasn't an old woman. They had taken advantage of him and turned him into what he was, a joke.

What did Toadlop call him? 'A cluts, a coward, gullible and useless, why does Mario put up with you when all you ever do is run away?' Mario only put up with him because he was his brother, and though Mario, Peach, a few Toads and Toadsworth believed in him, no one else did. They all saw him as Toadlop saw him, a joke, comic relief he was sure of it. Okay, he had a fan club who believed in him, but it only comprised of a handful of Toads, barely five, the rest just forgot all about him. What kind of hero fan club only has a hand full of members? Someone who's not much of a hero to be fully recognised that's what.

Why did he have to be so scared all the time? Why did he always have to run, why couldn't he be brave like his brother, why couldn't he stand up for himself, why? Why? But it was obvious, it was in his nature, it's how he's grown up, mostly in the shadow of an older brother, and an older twin brother come to that, who was more popular and heroic, and time and again Luigi felt the need to prove himself a match for his brother but often because of his clutsy nature he kept making a fool of himself. He was also scared of getting hurt, he didn't like pain, who did, he was allergic to being hit.

When he was with Mario he was fine, he seemed to draw some kind of strength from his brother when he's with him or when Mario was in danger. But if he's on his own his legs just turn to jelly and he backs down.

Luigi let his legs collapse and he fell to his knees on the solid, stone floor. _OOooohh... MY KNEES! _He cursed to himself as pain shot through them. He cured his clutsy nature as a tear rolled down his cheek, being locked away in the total dark was scary to him but his fear was far outweighed by his own grief and self pity. Tears started streaming down his cheeks. Why did he have to be Luigi, why couldn't he be someone else for a change, why could he never play the hero and for people to actually know about it?

He wiped some of the tears from his eyes so he could continue being insoluble, but his crying was interrupted by something which made his self pity seem insignificant compared to his now flaring up fear. A bright green glow had just filled the sewer area so much that everything down there was visible through a shade of green before it all faded back to black. What scared Luigi was that this light seemed to come from nowhere at all. Was there a monster in the sewers somewhere?

No, that was silly, there were no monsters under the Mushroom Kingdom. Maybe it was a person or something like that, maybe someone who could lead him out of here. Quickly standing up he slowly walked in the direction the light came from holding out his hands in front of him to make sure he didn't walk into anything, the stone and silt covered ground crunching under his shoes.

Luigi nearly lost his footing when his left foot landed on something with a scraping noise, but he managed to keep his balance as he flung his arms out and swung them in circular motions. Regaining his balance he looked down despite not being able to see what he'd just stood in, but in the next few moments he was able to see what he'd stood in, because it glowed green for a few seconds.

_What on Earth is that?_ Luigi thought in a panic stepping off the thing. He waited for a few moments before kneeling down and tried to feel along the ground with his hands. He felt something, something solid and made of wood. He couldn't make out what it was but he doubted it belonged here. It was probably some kind of rubbish that someone had flushed down the toilet, probably diseased if it had been down here for weeks or months, but despite these fears he found himself picking it up and hanging on tightly but for what reason he couldn't say. Security maybe but whatever it was he kept a tight hold on it.

He felt it with his gloved hands, it was awkwardly shaped, like one side of a wooden, model boats hull that had been snapped in half, but he doubted that's what it was because it had three holes in it and a long bar that felt like it was made of metal with rivets running so far along it. Feeling the three holes again he discovered they were in exactly the same position as a pair of eyes and a mouth would be on a face, was this a mask of some kind? Why would someone flush a mask down the toilet? How could this even fit down a toilet, it was much too large and... glowy? The thing was glowing a soft shade of green, why was it glowing, how was it glowing? Why, when he couldn't see the stupid thing clearly, did he have the sudden overwhelming urge to put it on?

His arms began to bring the thing closer to his face, though he couldn't see it he could judge where the thing was because of his arms, plus he could smell the foul thing's odour that got stronger as the thing got closer. It was so close to his face now. It started to glow softly again so he could see the inside of it, it was so close now that his point of view was seeing through the eye holes of this mask.

He could feel something, something in his head urging him to put the thing on, egging him on and the closer it got the more he could feel it. _'You want a solution to your problems, Jackson? You hold the answer in your hands' _said a voice deep in his head that he was not really aware of. It felt like something in his mind was bashing away at the doors of his conscious mind trying to get out. That's what it felt like to Luigi at the minute he didn't seem to possess the capacity to question this.

He was blinded by a bright white light which shone down on him from above. He shut his eyes because they were too used to the dark now, and he pulled the mask thing away from his face. Someone had just re-opened up the manhole cover from above.

"Luigi!" said a familiar voice from above "are you down there?" Mario's voice. Once again the little, big brother had to rescue the big, little brother and though Luigi appreciated the rescue he also felt deflated because he didn't manage to get out by himself, something that was only reinforcing the idea that he's completely useless, and not once did he think about the strange event that just happened with this mask thing because he honestly could not remember any of it.

Using a rope that Mario had on hand he hoisted his brother up through the manhole. If Luigi felt humiliated now it was nothing compared to what was waiting for him up above. Wario and Warluigi, the two who he assumed had sealed him down there in the first place were falling over themselves laughing at Luigi who, he hadn't noticed, was trailing a stream of toilet paper behind on his left shoe and had some sort of green gunk crawling up one side of his coveralls. If it was just Wario and Warluigi he would've been fine but what really hurt him were the dozens of onlookers. Residence of the Mushroom Kingdom, Toads mostly the young ones, who were also laughing at him, at him! Luigi the joke.

The lanky Mario brother didn't sob or cry he didn't want to in public and anyway he felt as if all the tears had been squashed out of him. He just sighed heavily, closed his eyes, lowered his head so the brim of his cap fell over most of his face and just began to walk, walk away from them, from the mocking crowd and mocking Wario brothers. As he walked he heard Mario calling to him in an obvious attempt to boost his moral, but green brother ignored the other and just walked away, he didn't feel like listening to anyone else right now. He just wanted to be left alone.

The laughing faded into the distance as Luigi dragged his heels along the ground not even feeling the effort to pick them up properly. It wasn't until he had left Toad Town and was halfway back home when he realised the object he was clutching in soaked hands.

Luigi finally decided to take a look at what he had discovered in the sewers and he expected it to be junk, and it was. It was a green coloured, paint chipped, wooden mask with a metal bar running halfway down and riveted onto a face with a small mysterious and mischievous looking smile on it. This thing was laughing at him too and he got the idea that if it could then it would be pointing at him as well.

With his attention focused so much on the Mask it came as a surprise to him when his foot got caught on a loose cobble stone that caused him to trip up and fall to the floor. Laughter echoed in his mind, the maddening laughing of the Toads, Luigi the joke had just fell down, what a comedic moment.

Something flared up in him, hot, burning anger, he felt his face begin to burn with it. He jumped to his feet waved his hands and stamped his feet, he wanted to just scream but settled for stamping his feet and waving his arms as a release. In his anger he raised the Mask in his hand and threw it directly at his feet and heard it make a loud bang as it hit the floor, but it did not break. It rattled a few feet away and came to stand still its smiling face still laughing at him. He walked up to it and stamped down on it with his left foot but the Mask refused to yield and remained firmly intact, hardly even scratched but he was too upset to notice this fact.

After a few minutes of mask stamping Luigi stood over the mouldy wooden thing and breathed heavily his heart pumping madly, it was still intact! Was he too weak to even break a brittle wooden mask? His anger evaporated to make way for the flood of depression again. He was too weak to break a brittle wooden mask.

Luigi signed and felt foolish for losing his temper and attacking a poor, defenceless mask. He felt even more foolish that he'd failed to even scratch it, how was that even possible? Curiously Luigi picked it back up again and looked into its eyes. It was odd but he had the creepy feeling it was looking at him, or into him...

For some reason he found himself hanging onto this mask despite his mood and carried it up the winding road back home as his depression started to fill the void left by his anger.

Why do I have to be Luigi? Why can't I be someone else?

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> While writing for Luigi I've tried to balance out Luigi's obvious ego from the Mario Galaxy games and the paper Mario games as well as the cowardliness Luigi has from the Mario and Luigi game series. But I've added a little more in that I'm suggesting his Ego is just to mask his low confidence and self pity he feels because of the way people treat him but also to mask his jealousy of his brother.

General Karnage is a character I've created for this story so don't try finding what games he features in because he isn't in any. :D I've based him on Blackadder, a character from the BBC comedy series of the same name and like Blackadder I've made him able to see the craziness of the world he exists in and able follow it up with sarcastic, sometimes humours remarks about it.


	4. The Mask

**Anonymous review replies:**

Nameless replier: Sorry for not replying in the last chapter I completely forgot to do it. Anyway, I take inspiration from all the Mask media like I'm taking inspiration for Luigi's personality from all the Mario games and the TV series. Though there are some Mask comic/cartoon scenes I have in some of my other Mask stories that I just couldn't resist replying or paying homage to, but I'm mostly original in what I write and what I make the Mask do.

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**The Mask**

General Karnage stood in a secret location under the castle, a secret place apparently so secret that everybody in fact, knew about it and came here to do all kinds of secret things. It was here Bowser secretly told the 'entire' castle about stuff he didn't want the rest of the castle to know about, mostly about his plans to invade the Mushroom Kingdom. He gathers them 'here' to tell them classified information? Which means only Bowser, his Koopa's and the rest of the English speaking world was privy to such classified information.

But that was beside the point and it didn't matter anyway, because the five minutes after Karnage had told Bowser his idea to kidnap Luigi, a plan that was best kept top secret in case it leaked out of the castle, it had already leaked into the castle. So Karnage had scrapped being secretive and just decided to meet his five best trained Koopa's in here, because it hardly mattered if someone was listening in or watching them.

In front of Karnage stood five Koopa's, his best Koopa's his most well trained Koopa's, curiously and questionably they had chosen to attend this meeting in thick leather suits.

"I know I'm going to regret asking this and there had better be a good reason for it. Why are you all dressed in black leather?" Karnage asked them. They looked like they were dressed in leather dry suits with a cloth hood hiding their heads and mouths but leaving their eyes clear. The stupid getup looked like it had been made in a hurry with whatever they could find. What the heck were they thinking dressing like that for a meeting?

"We're going ninja style on the Mario's" one on the left said enthusiastically. It was difficult to tell them apart especially in those ridicules getups.

"The black's to help us infiltrate the Mushroom Kingdom undetected, while under the cover of darkness" said another one in the middle.

Karnage sighed and ran a hand over his face, it wasn't just Bowser who was simple minded "I... see... so you think black leather is going to be enough to conceal you from the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom?" he asked.

"Sure it will, I saw it on TV" insisted one of the Koopa's this time one on the right.

"Okay, try to sneak up on me" Karnage instructed turning to face away from them and closing his eyes. He didn't have to wait long until he heard the creak, creak, creak of the leather bending and rubbing as they moved. He turned back around to face them again and gave them a look that he wasn't impressed. "A deaf man wearing ear plugs could hear that!"

The five Koopa's then backed off when they decided their sneak attack wasn't going to work.

"Plus, if people saw five Koopa's in latex carrying a screaming green plumber on their back what image is that going to conjure up in their heads?" He waited for an answer from them, but none came "The papers will have a field day if anyone snaps a picture. They'll wonder what Koopa's get up to in this castle and they think it'll involve glitter."

"Hey, come on give us a chance!" one of the Koopa's remarked as he rather stiffly turned around to face the General. "Yeah, it took us forever to get into these suits" remarked another.

"I admit the disguise needs a few holes patching" the middle Koopa spoke.

"A few holes patching?" the General signed deeply and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and fore finger and let them pinch the bridge of his beak "Your plan's got enough holes to strain vegetables in."

"Oh come on, how difficult can it be to kidnap Luigi?"

"Yeah, everyone knows Luigi is a coward, as soon as he sees us coming he'll be so scared stiff we can carry him away, easily-peasy."

"You do know Mario and Luigi live together? So you'll also have to sneak up on Mario" Karnage added. That seemed to shut the Koopa's up for a second, they all looked at each other in turn as if they were having a conversation without moving their lips. The looks in their eyes showed they were slowly dawning on how impartial their disguise was. After a few more seconds they all seem to come to a conclusion.

"We'll get changed into something else." The middle Koopa said.

"You do that, and make sure you guard Luigi with your lives, the longer you delay Mario the more successful this endeavour will be!" Karnage said "Dismissed" and the Koopa's marched away their boots echoing around the empty room and their disguises comically creaking as they went.

Oh boy, those were the best he had and they were going to go to the Mushroom Kingdom dressed like that? If Luigi saw them coming he'd probably be less frightened of being captured and more frightened of what he thinks they're going to do with him.

He understood they were trying their best with what he has taught them in the short weeks he's been here, taught them about infiltration and stealth attacks but they clearly had gotten the wrong end of the stick, mind you they had clearly picked up the wrong stick.

* * *

><p>Later that night as the sun set on the residence of the Mario's, the five Koopa's arrived and they hid behind a nearby bush so they could keep close surveillance on the house without being spotted. The house was a small one story house with a bright red roof and windows in it indicating a second floor in the attic. It was situated in a very nice location a number of miles away from Toad Town and overlooked Peachs' castle in the valley, and because of its high altitude they were catching a great deal of wind, which was evident in both the ripple of the trees and the spin of the weather vane on the roof of the house which was in the shape of a power star.<p>

Through one of the windows they could clearly see their target Luigi sitting in a big green chair with his hand propping up his face as he listened to Mario in front of him. They couldn't hear the conversation but it was obvious that Luigi was down about something and Mario was desperately trying to cheer him up.

The five Koopa's had named themselves, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega and Landa. Unfortunately the codenames were a little over the top because they were all dressed the same and could hardly tell each other apart. They were still dressed in black clothes, but instead of the latex suits they'd just cut up some curtains they'd found in Bowser's castle.

"Okay, Beta" said Alpha looking at Beta

"I'm not Beta, I'm Omega!" the Koopa insisted

"Which one's Beta?" Alpha whispered to his group.

"I am" said one Koopa

"I thought I was Beta" said another

"No, you're Gamma!" said Alpha.

"Oh, but I wanted to be Beta."

"You can both be Beta!" Alpha hissed.

"How can we both be Beta?"

"Yeah, that's a pretty bad system for identification."

"Enough already!" Alpha hissed "You're Beta, you're Gamma, you're Omega and you're Landa" Alpha pointed out to each one in tern giving them a name.

"Yeah, I know" Landa answered.

"Then who's Alpha?" Gamma asked

"I AM!" Alpha nearly shouted.

"Calm down Alpha, or the Mario's will hear us!"

Alpha signed heavily.

This was not going to go as well as Alpha had planned. They had followed Karnage' advice for staying undetected, they wore clothes that let them blend into the night, they gave each other code names but without easy means of identification they were useless. They'd silently approached their target only stopping momentarily to squabble over who was who. They may be clumsy at times and a little slow witted but they were good fighters at least, top of the class, though looking through the window at Mario Alpha wondered if they dare attack the plumber, after all this was Mario they were talking about, he'd ploughed through several worlds filled with Koopa's several times to get Peach back so what chance do five badly dressed Koopa's have?

"Now" Alpha parted the bushes further to get a better good look at their target by the window and Mario "Mario's in there with Luigi"

"If we're going to get our hands on Luigi we're going to have to get Mario out of the way first." Said Omega.

"How do we do that?" Beta asked.

"A distraction I think." Alpha answered turning to look at the Koopa he'd designated Gamma, an idea forming in his head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I know what you're thinking and the answer is no!" Gamma said holding up his hands to indicate he wanted no part in this plan. "I'm not dressing up and playing damsel in distress again!"

"What do you mean? It worked, we distracted our target." Alpha said and Beta and Landa agreed.

"Yeah, but the guy nearly killed me when he found out I wasn't a girl" Gamma shivered at the thought of it.

"We did say to you Gamma" Alpha said "Don't, under any circumstances let him take your trousers off."

"Anyway, Mario's not like that, he won't be interested" Beta said quickly.

"And I know where we can find a dress" Landa commented.

"I don't care what you say guy's I'm not going to dress up!" Gamma shouted backing away from them out from the cover of the bush.

"Hey come back here!" Alpha said but Gamma didn't obey and nearly stepped out of hiding before Beta and Landa grabbed him and forced him back into the bush just as Mario exited the house and walked straight past them without even batting an eyelid.

"Hey, there he goes!" Alpha said pointing at the short, red plumber.

"What did we do?" Beta asked.

"Nothing, come on quick, let's grab Luigi before he comes back!" and as one the Koopa squad moved out, except for Gamma who stayed behind looking a little bemused.

"Umm... does this mean I can keep my trousers on?"

* * *

><p>Luigi sighed as he held his hands in his face, he was just in a state of complete depression ever since he'd come home. How many times had he helped defeat Bowser? How many times had Luigi saved the Mushroom Kingdom? Admittedly not as much as Mario, but everyone remembered Mario but whenever Luigi was mentioned he was always known as 'Oh, Mario's Brother' or 'The Green Mario' or they didn't even know him at all. In fact most of the things he's done himself, the people he's saved in the Mushroom Kingdom, the great things he, Luigi has done, and who got the credit for it? Mario, that's who! But Luigi didn't blame Mario for this, Mario never claimed the credit himself, people usually assumed because he and Mario looked similar that it was Mario doing the deeds but that still didn't make Luigi any less annoyed, or jealous.<p>

Luigi just wanted some recognition for what he's done, he can play the hero, he is capable of it he knew he was but he just didn't think being the hero was worth anything if you didn't have any respect from the people you helped. He's done things which have frightened him to death, things which have nearly killed him and he didn't get any recognition. Except for when his yellow streak crept into it then they paid attention. Okay he was a coward, he hated ghosts and anything to do with the supernatural but whenever it came down to it he put his fear aside and saved the day. Saving Mario in that ghostly mansion was proof of that, but no one paid any attention to it. Even the papers painted him as a coward and as 'comic relief' in a manner of speaking.

Why does he do it? Why does he just stay in Mario's shadow? Why not go solo and save some Kingdom himself? But the answer was obvious and it was an answer he just kept coming back to. When he was with Mario he had that braveness and the courage he wouldn't otherwise have, it was as if they shared a special bond outside being brothers that allowed him to push his fear aside and do what needed to be done. But if he was on his own he always suspected he'd chicken out and run away.

Mario was aware his brother was depressed and had tried to cheer him up a few minutes ago, but the red plumbers words just bounced off his mood. "Come on, cheer up big, little brother" "I couldn't save the Mushroom Kingdom without you" "You're just as important to the defence of the Kingdom as I am" "No one thinks you're a coward." Etc, etc, etc!

Why couldn't Mario just leave him alone? Luigi really wanted to tell him to stop talking, to say "stop flapping your mouth up and down making noises" the only thing stopping him saying it was his manners. No matter what Mario tried he could not cheer his brother up, he even went as far as to offer to make pasta. Though Luigi liked pasta it was by no means his favourite dish, that was Mario's favourite, he could feel himself want to yell this at him but again his manners just kept forcing it back down. Luigi has never known anyone who could be as active as Mario is, eat as much pasta as he liked and still didn't lose a pound off that round gut of his. How was that possible?

Eventually Mario had gone downstairs to prepare some pasta but later shouted up saying they didn't have any and he was going out to get some, or something like that, Luigi wasn't really listening. Where he expected to get pasta at this time of night Luigi didn't know. The Wario's?

Those rotten Wario's! He hated them, Wario and Warluigi, the copy cats, the Mario's complete opposites, the Wario's and the Mario's were like Ying and Yang. Though the copy cats helped out on some of their adventures they had been their alter egos, their rivals and in some cases their enemies. They were bullies and a menace.

Luigi didn't give any shame at, while remembering while he was walking home after the cruel trick they played on him, imagining what he'd like to do to them, cruel, nasty things. He usually wasn't one to get upset and dwell on these things like this but all this had backed up for years and was only now erupting out. He wanted to hurt them, he wanted them to suffer for everything unjust they've done to him and others. But that bubble was burst when he realised he couldn't possibly beat them. Maybe if Mario helped but Mario wouldn't just go after the Wario's for revenge, they'd have to do something like kidnap the princess or something equally as bad.

Luigi sighed again and closed his eyes, he told himself to stop thinking about these stupid revenge plots that were never going to happen. He climbed the stairs, entered his bed room and laid on his bed and rested his head on the pillows and slowly closed his eyes, though he was still dressed in his green overalls and cap all he wanted to do now was just go to sleep and wake up in the morning to get on with another day in the life of the green Italian plumber/hero Luigi. Hero? Yeah right!

"What the heck are you waiting for?" said a voice, a very unearthly sounding voice which sent a shiver down Luigi's spine "Let's go teach those Wario's a lesson!" Luigi's eyes popped open and he quickly got to his feet shivering with fear. Was there someone in the house with him? That wasn't Mario's voice and anyway he was out on a pasta hunt so it couldn't be him, has someone broken in? It was almost as if the voice had come from right beside him but there was no one there, all that was next to him was his bedside cabinet, over which was a mirror and laying on it was that mask he'd found, so where had that voice come from? Did he imagine it? He was very upset right now so he guessed he could've imagined it he supposed. Now that he thought about it, it sounded more like it came from inside his own head rather than from someone's mouth, so in that case he must've imagined it. He sighed again, he must be going crazy.

He stopped shivering and looked in the mirror at his reflection. He really did look sad, pathetic, 'hero of the Mushroom Kingdom' indeed. He looked down at the mask on the cabinet. He still didn't know why he'd carried it home with him, unconsciously he felt that he didn't want to throw it away, sort of like a sixth sense telling him to hold onto it as if it could be useful to him, as if it was the solution to all his problems and he just didn't realise it, or it was so he had something to hide behind like the good old fashioned paper bag when he felt embarrassed.

He reached out and picked it up. The green wood and metal did look like it was centuries old or more. Its eyes and mouth made it look like whatever it was supposed to represent was in a joking mood but it looked happier then he felt and as he looked up into the mirror at his own reflection he realised it looked a lot happier then he actually did.

Still looking at his reflection he decided to try it on, maybe the better mood of this mask would rub off on him, maybe it would give him a smile at how ridicules he'd looked under it. He raised it to his face, because of where he'd found it he intended to let it hover over his face to look at it and not let it make contact, he didn't want someone else's faeces on his face or in his moustache after all.

Luigi jerked his head back when he felt like he was being held underwater, he felt his breath being ripped from his lungs by an unknown force and his face felt as if it had just entered a freezing void! It also felt as if something was pulling roughly on his cheeks and ever weirder the mask felt like it was trying to pull itself towards his face, bending itself inwards to get him!

Quickly he tried to pull the thing away, but it felt like he was pulling on a large adhesive patch and as it came away he heard what sounded like the whispery, ghostly howl of an alien type creature which echoed in his mind and quickly died away before his brain could properly detect it.

The weird sensation stopped immediately the moment the mask was away from his face, his heart was pounding like it was trying to escape his chest and run a mile and he gasped like he really had just spent a short time under water.

What the heck had just happened? It was as if this piece of wood had tried to grab his face and pull it off, but that was ridicules, masks didn't do that, unless it was some sort of special mask which holds onto your face more effectively then a piece of string around the back of the head. But no, that can't be right because... it was weird but while it was trying to push itself onto his face he also had a feeling in his mind, a feeling of something pushing through his thoughts trying to break the surface.

His mouth slowly dropped open and his eyes grew wider when he saw something he certainly knew masks didn't do at all. The inside of the mask began to glow a shade of green and purple, a glow that rippled from one side of it to the other as if a green laser beam had just been scanned across it, but the light had no apparent source other then this odd piece of curved wood.

At the sight of the green light he felt oddly calm and serine and he found it difficult to focus on anything outside of this mask. He began moving the odd object closer and closer to his face again completely mesmerised by it, unable to think or remember why he didn't want to put it on the first time, nor that due to his own cowardly nature of anything magical or supernatural that he should actually be scared to death of it.

The mask was just about to make contact with his face when it literally jumped from his finger tips in the last inch and slapped itself onto his face. Luigi was suddenly wide away and alert. His face felt cold and numb under this mask and it start to wriggle. Wriggle? It was made of solid wood how could it wriggle? Yet it was doing it. It felt like it was trying to crush his head! He could feel that clearly and he quickly reached up to rip it off. But not only was the mask wriggling it wasn't keeping its own shape, it was altering and stretching. He felt what he could only describe as three tentacle like formations extend from the edges of the mask making their way towards the back of his head!

He tried to pull at it and peal it off his face. But it wasn't coming off! It reached around the back of his head and over the top between his hair and his cap and all three tentacles joined together at the back of his head encasing it in this green wooden mask which slowly started to gained the texture of rubber. It then felt like it was trying to crush his head and he began to panic as again he tried in vain to get it off him. It stretched in his hands as if it was made of molten rubber and as he let go it just snapped itself back into place on his face. _What the heck is going on? GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF!_

He began to whimper and blubber as he tried to scrap it off with his nails but they hardly seemed to scratch it. He turned to look in the mirror to see what was happening, it was wriggling like the thing was alive. Then the wood grain began to glow a bright lime green. _OH MY GOD IT IS ALIVE!_

A loud thunder crack echoed around the house and his entire room lit up as if a bolt of lightning had just flashed through it. Luigi screamed and screamed at the top of his lungs for help, a scream that was muffled by the small mouth hole of the Mask. Out of all the things he's survived in his life he didn't want to die because of a stupid mistake with a weird mask, he'd be a laughing stock!

"MARIO! MARIO HELP! HELP!" he screamed out loud, he slowly felt cold as if he was slowly dying, but then he felt his body temperature suddenly flare up with a weird sensation like energy flowing into every corner of his body, then he suddenly felt himself being sharply pulled in one direction as if by an invisible hand, a movement he tried to fight and did but it didn't do any good, he couldn't stop this force sending him into a mad spin on his heels, a spin that felt like it just kept gaining and gaining speed. "HHHHEEEEELLLLLPPP!" he screamed warping his own arms around himself when he felt the spinning force trying to pull his arms out of his sockets.

Around and around and around and around he went until everything in his own eyesight became a massive blur of colour and motion, if he spun into anything at this speed he'd surely injure himself. He suddenly felt himself drop a considerable distance straight down before landing on solid ground, he presumed he must've spun down the stairs to the ground floor, or it could've just be his lunch trying to force itself back up his throat, he couldn't tell.

While he spun he noticed the entire space around him lit up again with loud thunder cracks and every time there was one he had the sensation he was being electrocuted, a sensation that now weirdly felt kind of pleasant.

His body then felt like it was being filled with even more energy, this felt like a strange sort of energy, an energy he'd never experienced before, it was like the rainbow star only much more energising, wild and uncontrollable, and he liked it! Oddly he began to get feeling in his face, he could feel the cold wind from his spinning form whipping against his cheeks despite his face being covered in this nightmare of a mask, what was it doing to him? Was it becoming a part of him?

Then another weird sensation came, one in his mind. All his worries began to melt away, all his fears, all his insecurities, all his inhibitions, his self pity, self loathing, loneliness, all of them just felt like they were melting away to nothing like icebergs. He no longer fought the change anymore, in fact he welcomed it. What was left of him was someone he knew was no longer Luigi himself anymore, and he liked it!

He then felt a rapid deceleration in his rotation and soon he came to a screeching stop somehow producing a sound effect of a breaking car as he did. Everything within his view resolved into something he could actually register. He had somehow ended up in the lounge area. The place looked almost exactly the same as when he saw it last a few minutes ago except for little things like the hat stand which now sat on its side as if it had been blown over and some of the picture frames had gone crooked. But he didn't care about that now, what he did care about was what had happened to him, he felt strange, full of energy and power.

What felt like an electrical discharge ran down his spine then right back up it again and any leftover aches and pains he had in his back and shoulders felt like they were quickly massaged out until there was no longer any tension anywhere in his body. _Oh, I like that._

He held up his arms and stretched them, from the look of his gloves and sleeves his clothes had somehow completely changed as well, though he spotted the change he didn't question it as he would've done a few moments ago.

He looked down at his attire, gone were the blue jump suit and green shirt and white gloves and tasteless brown shoes. They had all been replaced with what looked like polished, black spats, a clean, white, winged collar shirt with black tie, dark purple trousers and a matching fastened waistcoat. Over all this he wore a dark purple, knee length, old fashioned, velvet frock coat and his gloves were similar to his original ones except they were grey rather than white. Even his cap was different, he lifted it off his head to get a better look at it. It was now a medium brimmed trilby which matched the colour of his coat and it had a feather sticking from the band around it. He twirled the hat in his hands before flipping it up in the air and it landed precisely on his head.

Luigi just had to see what this get up looked like all together. There was a mirror in the corner of the lounge area, he moved towards it and he was there much quicker than he'd expected, almost in a flash and then he was there.

Luigi looked at himself in the mirror, if he was in his right mind he would've panicked and screamed, but as it was from what he saw in the mirror 'that' wasn't even his right face. It was caked in a thick green rubber mask but very little about his face had changed, his nose was still large and his eyes were still the same blue colour but that was where the similarities ended.

His moustache was missing for a start, everyone had often said he didn't have the moustache of a hero and now he didn't have one at all and deep down he was glad of it. His ears weren't ears as such, they were more just odd lumps coming out of the side of his head but there was nothing to indicate that they were any kind of ears yet he could still hear everything around him very clearly. His eyes, now that he noticed had kept the same colour but they didn't look like his, they looked confident, alert, with a hint of mischievousness. He grinned at his unusual appearance and noticed his teeth had also been affected by this weird transformation. They were twice the size as they should be and were as white as kitchen tiles. Curiously, though he could see this wasn't usual for him he didn't behave as if it was unusual.

He looked up and down at his appearance in the mirror observing it in its entirety for the first time, if he was still Luigi he wouldn't have dared gone out in this old fashioned getup, but then again he didn't fell like Luigi anymore, he felt like more than 'just' Luigi now. His attention back on his attire this green headed person that was once Luigi grinned, a grin which made his teeth look even more out of proportion to the rest of his face.

"SWEEEEEEEET!" he said in a voice which was his but had an unearthly echo added onto it. "Hello there, you hansom devil you!"

What was he so upset about again? He couldn't really remember, all he knew as it felt good to be alive and kicking, and he planned to do a bit of kicking tonight. Why stay in? He wanted to have a night on the town.

And with that he went to the door and practically threw it open before jumping outside. In the distance he could see the lights of the Mushroom Kingdom and Toad town glinting in the darkness. That was quite a distance he decided, it'd take hours to walk there but strangely he instinctively knew what to do. He swung his arms and sent himself into a spin which became faster and faster like when he underwent the transformation a few moments ago and literally fired himself forwards towards Toad Town.

He hadn't gone a few hundred yards when felt himself slam right into something, knocking them down with the sound of a bowling ball hitting bowling pins. He stopped momentarily and zoomed straight back to ground zero see what he'd just knocked down.

Laying sprawled on the ground were five Koopa's wrapped in black cloth, they moaned and groaned like they were aching all over and with the speed Luigi had just slammed into them he wasn't surprised.

"Hey, remember boys and girls" he started saying to no one in particular, gesturing towards the Koopa's in black like he was a salesman in an advert and the Koopa's part of what he was selling. "Wear bright clothes at night while on the road, or you'll end up like roadkill squad here!" then he half cackled, half laughed at this. Since when did he cackle and laugh at the same time? Since when did he cackle at all?

Then he pulled his upper body back like he was putting it under a great tension knot he fired himself forward while simultaneously sending himself into a whirling tornado and he raced down the hill like lightning heading towards Toad Town. He was going to have some fun, and he was going to make this a night to remember.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> Luigi is usually described as a little nerdish, a little old fashioned and the most intelligent of the two brothers, but he's also a gentleman so I've dressed his mask in old fashioned gentlemen like garb with a little hint of the Stanley's Mask with the feathered hat.

The Koopa's Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Landa and Omega were all created by me especially for this part of the story.

Originally I was going to have Luigi's Mask battle the five Koopa's, but in the end I thought it'd be better if he just mowed them down without batting an eyelid and uttering a wise crack before rushing off and not looking back, and with the point of the chapter being to show what creature the Mask turns Luigi into I thought I'd save the really mischievous stuff for the next chapter.


	5. Who's Laughing NOW?

****Anonymous review replies:****

Dematerialize: Thanks for the review mate. And just to clarify my friend, I'm a 'he'. But anyway, glad to hear you're enjoying my story and I hope you enjoy what comes next.

Cheers.

-TimeLordParadox

Nameless replier: Hey, just calm down mate. I don't know if you're just over excited by the story or just complaining about it, but I'll use which Mask I want to in my stories. I have my reasons for using this version of the Mask, the major one being I prefer it to the others because it opens up other branches of the story I can explore. But if you're not happy with what I'm writing, write your own Mask story that uses the other versions of the Mask.

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Who's Laughing NOW?**

It had been a late night for both Toadrok and Toadsel, they'd both planned to be back at home for nine but things had got out of hand at Peaches castle. There was just so much mess left over after Bowser's failed attempt to capture Peach that Toadsworth out right refused to let anyone go home until it was cleaned up and the throne room put back together which, Toadrok might add, took hours.

They both lived quite far away, close to the outskirts of Toad Town in fact. They usually took a route through the square simply because the square of Toad Town was a picture postcard, if you wanted to advertise Toad Town, take a picture of the square with the castle in the background, then enough said. But tonight they weren't going through the square because they both felt just too exhausted to walk that extra distance so they took a shortcut through the back allies. Given the choice Toadrok would not have wanted to walk through these places in the dead of night, it was one of the few places in Toad Town Toadrok thought was creepy at night. During the day it was okay, but in the low light the tight claustrophobic place just seemed a lot less friendly.

"Are you sure about this?" Toadrok asked, rubbing his left arm which was still aching from lifting the broken fragments of the throne rooms collapsed roof.

"Come on, nothing's going to happen" Toadsel said. Toadsel and Toadrok were both toads, as their names suggested. Toadsel was short and quite chubby with a wide, green coloured cap above his head with white spots, while Toadrok was slightly shorter and thinner with a red cap with white spots on it. "You're way too cautious." Toadsel added "What could possibly happen in an empty alley?"

"Hold it right there!" said a voice which came so sudden that Toadrok nearly jumped out of his skin as did Toadsel. From the darkest corners of the alley came three dark shapes, two of them were short but one was quite tall, taller than both of them at least. As the shadows approached they slowly became shapes they recognised. One was a Koopa, a mean looking Koopa with a blue shell on his back that had been stained with slops of illuminating paint which gave an air of punk about him. The other two shorter creatures were Goomba's, they were mushroom shaped like the toads only they had large bulbous heads, two short stubby feet and no arms, from their mouths protruded two short, pointy, lower teeth and their eyes were shadowed by thick eyebrows. Goomba's were usually allied with King Bowser as were the Koopa's but like the Koopa's some had turned their back on conquest of the Mushroom Kingdom to peruse their own ideals and dreams. It was obvious by the way the three stared at them what their ideals and dreams were.

"Hey there" the Koopa said his eyes remained cold and staring as did the Goomba's. "You got any spare coins for us?" The way he said it gave no illusion what they actually wanted.

"No, no I'm terribly sorry, we don't have any spare coins." Toadrok said fast but he doubted they'd believe they weren't carrying some form of currency, they both worked in the castle after all which was a well paying job. Slowly both Toadrok and Toadsel began retreating back the way they had come and prepared to run if the need arose, but when they turned around they found themselves face to face with two other mean looking Goomba's who were both blocking their path.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll just take what isn't spare." The Koopa added and both the Koopa and his Goomba's slowly began advancing towards them, tightening their noose around the two toads.

"Help, help! We're being robbed!" Toadsel shouted at the top of his voice that echoed and bounced off the walls trying to attract someone attention, but their cries for help went unheard.

"Don't waste your breath tubby" the Koopa said "no one's coming to help you, so just give us the coins and we'll... HEY... WHAT THE HECK!"

A great gust of wind suddenly blew up all around them from the opposite side of the alley behind the Koopa, there was nothing this strong on the weather forecast Toadrok remembered but it soon became obvious whatever this wind was it wasn't natural as what looked like a whirling, twisting, blue and green tornado that was only about two meters tall suddenly appeared from the end of the alley.

The wind suddenly halted and the twister came to a twisting stop. The air fell still and from the tornado emerged a tall human person, a tall human person wearing old fashioned type clothes, a long, dark blue, velvet frock coat and matching trilby hat with a feather in the band. His face was also caked in a big, green, rubber mask that hid his true features, as did the brim of his hat which sat on his head pushed forward hiding his eyes in shadow.

"Hi there, anyone know a good all night pizza place? I'm famished!" he said causally in a voice that had a slight unearthly, slightly creepy echo to it, and couldn't he not see they were both in danger here?

"What the..." the Koopa tried to say but Toadsel cut across him. "Hey, whoever you are, help us, they're going to rob us!" he cried pointing at the punk Koopa.

"Quiet you!" said a Goomba behind Toadsel who nudged him roughly with his head.

"Get lost Green Face!" the Koopa said looking as menacing as he could being a turtle with paint on his shell. "Just walk away and no one will get hurt." He added with a threatening air.

Slowly the green faced guy lifted his head and the shadow cast by the brim of his hat lifted with it revealing his eyes, which were a soft shade of blue, a contrast to the way the brow and cheeks made them appear, confident, a little crazed and slightly unnerving. He swung one leg over the other and leaned on them while burying his hands into his trouser pockets. "There's no need to be rude, beaky boy?" and he smiled showing both rows of teeth that were as large as baseball cards and as white as paper.

The Koopa for a moment looked slightly taken aback, he was obviously not used to being spoken to like this or it could've been the dazzling gleam from those white choppers. The Koopa cracked his knuckles in an intimidating way to show he meant business. "You got a problem with us Green Jeans?" and he started advancing on the large teethed stranger.

"Actually..." the green guy said and in the blink of an eye he had moved so fast Toadrok didn't even see it. He now stood next to the Koopa and slipped and arm around his shoulders like they were both great pals. "...I really do have a problem, old pal" and the green guy's eyes rolled to look up at the dark sky and grinned. "Can you see any stars above your head?" he asked causally.

The Koopa, quizzically looked up above his head at the sky and answered "No, it's too cloudy." What happened next took everyone by surprise, because it happened so fast.

In seconds the green guy pushed himself away from the Koopa and while he was distracted looking up the green guy reached into his small trouser pockets and from them somehow produced a long wooden handle attached to which was a steel, mallet the size of his head! He swung it back and with the Koopa still looking up for stars he swung it straight down on top of the Koopa's head. The turtle creature dropped light a stone to the floor and from his head... did Toadrok get a knock on the head himself he wondered, because from the Koopa's injured head erupted several glowing stars that circled around his crown in a very cartoony manner. The green guy had asked if the Koopa could see stars above his head, and the Koopa had answered 'no'.

"WELL YOU CAN NOW!" the masked man screeched darkly finishing their conversation and he flung his head back and laughed like a maniac.

With their leader fallen all the Goomba's around them jumped back and began looking at each other in turn as if they were unsure what to do with their leader struck down. But soon they quickly decided what to do, and all their attention was now focused on the masked mad man.

Oddly the man who had struck the Koopa down now looked at what he'd done in utter horror, like he didn't intend to do any of at all and was now regretting it. He dropped the mallet to the floor in disbelief and as it clattered to the ground it faded out as if it didn't really exist. The Goomba's pushed past both Toadrok and Toadsel and tried to rush the man and ram him down. Then something freaky happened.

The man screamed at the top of his lungs, really at the top of his lungs, screamed so loud his mouth fell open to his navel! His hat flew off his head and floated in mid air a good ten inches from his head as his dark, green hair stood up on end like it was holding the hat up itself. His eyes also shot out from his face and hung in mid air a full meter away from him, quaking in fear! This freaky, cartoony display of fear lasted for just a matter of seconds and once it was done everything, his mouth, eyes and hat all shrank back onto his face.

This didn't deter the Goomba's who were about to ram into him, but in a quick decision the green guy leapt up into the air three times his own height, flew over the Goomba's heads and landed on the back of the punk Koopa's shell, the impact shot the Koopa out of his shell at the speed of sound and turtle slammed into the alley wall head first.

The man leapt off the shell again and twisted his arms and his form disappeared into another mad spin causing a miniature tornado to from again. The blue and green twister started to alter its colours, they became red and blue rather than green and blue and when the green masked man emerged again he had somehow managed to change his clothes! Gone were the old jacket, waistcoat and hat, he now stood in the garb of a soccer player in a red t-shirt and black shorts.

The Goomba's, quickly realising they'd missed their target and turned to attack yet again but the masked man in true strikers style kicked the Koopa's now empty shell like a soccer ball with so much force it blasted forwards smacking into each of the Goomba's in turn right in the face. But the green guy didn't stop there, he blasted past all the Goomba's so fast he was just a blur, caught the shell on his foot and expertly sent it straight back at them for another turn, and it hit each and every one of them again no matter how they tried to avoid it, it just found its mark like it was guided by an invisible force.

The green guy stood still now and just looked at the Goombas with that freaky grin of his, most of the Goomba's lay unconscious or dazed. "Suffering from Shell Shock guys?" he quipped and forced himself into another spin again and appeared to just dance around the alley way before trying to spin away back the way he had come.

"Hey, come back here you coward!" a single Goomba called after it as he got to his feet, a sentence he soon realised was a mistake because the moment that statement left his mouth the tornado quickly came straight back and the Goomba's bravery quickly turned to cowardice. He looked at the oncoming twister in horror, turned on his stubby feet and tried to hightail it away from the twister but it was too fast for him. It impacted with him and swept the short creature off the floor and into its twisting form, all the time the Goomba was screaming "WAAHHH! STOP THE RIDE, STOP THE RIDE I WANNA GET OFF! I'M GONNA BE SICK!"

Both Toadsel and Toadrok took this opportunity to hide behind a bunch of bins as all this was going on. They could've ran away but they'd never seen anything like this before, it was unbelievable, who was this guy?

The twister swung the single Goomba around and around and tried to smash him into the other three Goomba's before they could recover from their earlier shell shock. He hit all except one, who'd managed to jump up over the spinning form and land behind it. He got up to his feet and shouted at the twister "HA, HA, YOU MISSED ME!" another mistake because the green guy soon rectified that statement when he let go of the Goomba he had.

The Goomba from the twister was nearly fired from it, it shot across the alley and slammed into the one with the big mouth knocking them both out again. "There, I got you! YOU HAPPY NOW?" the green guy quipped when his from halted again, he was now back in his original garb, how was he able to change his clothes so fast?

Placing his hands on his hips he looked around at Goomba's who were moaning in pain as they lay there. "Oh, is the party over so soon?" he said, the way he was holding himself and the way he swung back and forth on his black, polished, tap dancing shoes gave the impression that this wasn't bravery or heroism, more the acts of someone who wasn't well adjusted in the head. But it didn't matter what the motivation was, he was winning!

One Goomba behind him had quickly leapt up to his feet, it wasn't beaten yet. It lowered its head and ran forward as fast as it could in an attempt to ram the masked man with his back turned.

Toadrok was about to shout out a warning when the green guy spun around to face the Goomba in a nick of time, pulled a long, red piece of cloth from his sleeve and waved it like a bull fighter "Toro, Toro, come on!"

The Goomba was about to make direct contact when green face stepped out of the way of the charge, the Goomba kept going towards the red, waving cloth, which the green guy quickly lifted before the Goomba hit it revealing a solid brick wall that had somehow materialised out of nowhere at all like magic! A solid brick wall that the Goomba could not avoid and hit with such force his entire body was cartoonishly flattened into it!

"O'LAY!" green guy cheered and bowed to the sound of applauding. Applauding? Where was that coming from? There was only them in the alley.

The Koopa, Toadrok now noticed, still without his shell had got to his feet and was attempting to retreat in a dazed stagger. The green guy soon noticed this and quickly zoomed to stand next to the naked Koopa, the sound of applauding vanished as he did.

"Where do you think you're going, beak boy?" green guy said, his voice now deep, threatening and almost insane "The parties not over yet!"

"YAH!" the turtle screamed "STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU GREEN FACED FREAK!" and the Koopa bully turned tails and tried to run, but green guy was too quick, he knocked the Koopa on the back of the head causing the shell-less Koopa to collapse into his arms.

"Hey, no hard feelings, after all we're all winners, right?" and green guy stood the Koopa up straight again, adding "Well, except you" and from his pockets green guy produced a dark green bottle of liquid, a label on the side identified the liquid as Champaign.

"Champaign for the champion!" he called and began shaking the bottle up very vigorously and violently "Don't mind if I splash you with it? Nah, didn't think you would!" and green guy shoved the cork end of the bottle into the Koopa's mouth. "LIFT OFF!" he shouted and pulled on the wire that held the cork in place. It fired out of the bottle with such force the Koop was jerked off his feet and went flying with it, he rose higher and higher and higher and higher into the night sky until he disappeared in the light of the moon.

"Hey, what do you know!" he turned to Toadrok and Toadsel and grinned manically at them "First Koopa on the moon! HA!" and as if to finish this off he swung one leg over the other, spun around on his heels without the aid of that tornado thing and when he came to a stop he leapt up into the air, tapped the heels of his shoes together while in mid air and came straight down again. When he landed his right hand rose and pushed his hat forward over his eyes again while he thrust his left hand out in front of him, his fore and little fingers fully extended in a classical Michael Jackson like pose.

Toadrok couldn't believe what he had just witnessed! Was he imagining it or had some cartoon like magician just beat the snot out that Koopa/Goomba Gang and not broke a sweat? Even after all that he just stood there grinning his tile white teeth at them as if he could've done this with one arm tied behind his back.

Cautiously Toadrok stepped from his hiding place, the man looked a little scary in his almost black garb and even a little creepy with the lime green mask but he seemed harmless enough.

"That was amazing!" Toadrok suddenly cried "You saved us! and you beat the heck out of them! and didn't even break a sweat!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, easy as pi, etc. etc." the green man said waving his hand to brush away the comments and gently dusted down the sleeves of his coat "Listen, do you know an all night pizza place around here? I'm starving!"

"How did you do all that? Could you teach me?" Toadsel said finally emerging from behind the rubbish bin that he had been hiding behind.

"Hey kid!" he pointed directly at his face "Pay attention" he said letting his finger circle in front of his face "I'm asking for directions here!" he then started to swivel his head this way and that as if looking for something he recognised and very freakily his head turned a full 360 and a noticeable twist formed at his neck! A twist that wanted relaxing because his head spun right back around again the correct way, he grabbed his head and staggered back a few steps a little dizzy. "Don't you just hate it when that happens?"

"What the heck are you?" Toadrok asked excitedly "Some kind of super hero like Mario?"

At those words the green mans features relaxed and became softer, his blue eyes became much more innocent and vulnerable, they looked almost familiar. "A S-S-S-Super Hero?" he asked a tremble in his voice. "Just like M-M-Mario?"

"No, you're way better than Mario!" Toadsel added filling with the same excitement Toadrok had for this masked stranger "Mario can't change like that, or conjure objects like a magician, or warp himself like you can!"

But the green man wasn't paying attention to Toadsel's last sentence, he was just mouthing the words "Better... than... Mario?" repeatedly as if he couldn't believe someone had just said that to his face. "You... think I'm better than Mario?" all the menace, confidence and wit had drained from his voice.

"Yeah! You are a hero... aren't you?" Toadsel said now a little unsure "You're not like the Wario's, help one day, cause problems the next?"

"Don't insult me kid." His voice now back the way it was before and his body language relaxed again the moment Toadsel said that.

"Am I a hero?" he placed a hand on his rubber chin and seemed to consider this "Yeah, okay, sure why not? It'll be a laugh."

"Cool!" Toadsel cried.

The green man lowered his head so his hat's brim shadow covered his eyes again. The atmosphere, if it could, appeared to get gradually darker and colder, and when the green guy next raised his head and lifted the shadows cast on his face his irises had turned from a gentle blue, to a burning, crimson red and looked like they were starting to glow creepily in the darkness.

"Speaking of the Wario's!" he grinned again this time with creepy wide eyes. Neither Toadrok nor Toadsel saw the green guy go, because one moment he was there, the next he had vanished leaving nothing in his place but the injured Goomba's and a great gust of wind as he just vanished.

* * *

><p>Luigi had never felt this way before in his life, he felt fantastic, he felt confident, it was unbelievable! He must be drunk he decided. He must've started drinking some time tonight, and drunk a lot to erase his memory of even downing the first bottle. He knew he was drunk because what he was doing and what he did was impossible.<p>

He'd magically produced objects from his pockets that were far too large to fit in there. He'd also said and done things he wouldn't normally have done had he been in his right mind, and he'd also developed a sort of a sense of wit. Though these changes scared him a little he actually liked this newer version of him, no not liked, 'preferred this version of him' and so he just went with it. He was drunk, or dreaming at least so why spoil the illusion? Plus he was about to have an illusion that would certainly blow off some steam in his mind so he wasn't going to spoil this dream by realising it's a dream and waking up.

As he spun around and around in this twisting tornado form, he appeared to be able to adopt in this dream, he only now began to realise how different he was. He felt free, freer then he'd ever felt in a long time, his mind wasn't fogged with thoughts like 'is this going to hurt' 'what would people think of me' 'do I look ridicules in this' etc, etc and so on. He just decided to do something and just did it, no matter what people might think, no second thoughts at all. Except once or twice like when he bashed that Koopa over the head, he'd never just attacked someone like that before without them trying to attack him first and when the Goomba's tried to charge him he regretted doing the bashing of the Koopa's head, but within that split second before the Goomba's hit him he decided he wasn't going to run away, he was going to stand his ground and kick their backsides! And without even thinking about it he'd done just that.

His whirling form now halted in a matter of seconds, he knew exactly where he was, exactly where he wanted to be. He had appeared outside the Wario brothers house and he'd screeched to a stop just outside their front garden gate. WOW that was fast, he'd gotten from his house, to Toad Town and all the way to the Wario's house across the valley in a matter of seconds! HA! He'd like to see an overgrown road running turkey, or a fast talking Mexican mouse, or a giant, red shoe wearing, blue hedgehog with idea's above his station try that! Luigi honestly had no idea what that last thought meant, only that it sounded amusing to him.

With the thought out of his mind he turned to the solid oak door of the Wario's house and started to approach it, leaping the white painted fence in one leap. The way he moved in this dream was different as well, his walk wasn't as stiff or clumsy as before, instead his movements were smooth, flowing, precise, almost dance like. He felt like he could just burst into song and dance right here, right now. But first he had business to take care of.

When he reached the door he raised his right hand. Better knock first, Luigi decided, after all nothing wrong with being polite is there, he thought as a grin began to spread across his green face.

Luigi reached out quickly, but stopped short of hitting the door with his knuckles and lightly tapped the door ever so lightly that no one would be able to hear it. He knocked again louder this time, loud enough to spook some birds in a nearby tree, and flattened himself against the door and peered through the spy hole to see what was going on behind the door. Freakily he felt his eye ball actually squeeze through the small hole, became elongated and stuck out the other side like a squashed balloon.

Both Wario and Warluigi were both sitting down in front of the TV, every few seconds Wario would change the channel, they weren't even getting up to answer the door, how rude. Luigi had never actually seen the inside of the Wario's house and so decided to look around from his point of view. Unfortunately when he looked left his elongated eye knocked into a vase standing on a small table. Before it tipped over and smashed Luigi pulled his eye back into his skull just before the vase tipped over and rattled on the table for a bit attracting Wario's attention momentarily, but muscle heads attention went straight back to the TV. What was with these guys?

Luigi knocked on the door again, this time so it was easily audible, waited a few seconds before just rapping his knuckles on the door creating quite a racket to get the Wario's attention. Looking through the spy hole again he clearly saw Warluigi, the skinny little runt! Get out of his seat and began walking towards the door, at which point Luigi smirked and started rapping the tune 'There may be trouble ahead' on the door.

Luigi grinned widely when he heard Warluigi unlocking and unbolting the door, at which point Luigi reached back with his left leg and side kicked the door so sharply it sprang of its hinges, fired across the room, missing Wario by the skin of his whiskers, who waved his arms in panic spooked by the flying door which slammed into the far wall, producing quite a few fractures in the paint work. Slowly the smashed door toppled forward and dropped to the floor with a bang revealing, stuck to the wall, teeth clenched in clear pain was Warluigi who had been stuck on the other side of the door as it slammed into the wall.

Wario, his expression one of horror mixed with astonishment turned his head back towards the broken doorway to see what had caused it. Before Wario could catch sight of him Luigi pushed his hat forward so it's brim cast a shadow over his eyes and he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

"What the...?" he heard Wario utter.

"Knock, Knock, Wario's!" Luigi said, his freaky sounding voice clearly unnerving both the bullying Wario's as Warluigi unstuck himself from the wall. "Just thought I'd drop in to pay you bullying, imposters a visit."

"And let me tell you, I don't like bullies. But don't worry your stupidly moustached faces, I'm not here to exact revenge, after all that would be abusing these new powers I have, and as lazily written movies teach us with great power comes great responsibility, so I must use them responsibly for the good of the Kingdom." It was a little bit of a clichéd speech Luigi admitted, but as long as it got the message across of where he stood against the Wario's.

With the sentence said Luigi started to feel a tingling at the back of his mind and in that moment he'd decided what he was going to do next.

"And as my first responsible act..." Luigi's hands, still buried inside his coat pockets began pulling two long wooden poles from them "...and for the good of the Kingdom..." the poles were far too long to fit inside his actual coat pockets, yet he was pulling them out. He slowly raised his head so he could see the Wario's and though he wasn't aware of it himself his eyes were clearly burning a bright crimson red. His voice took on a very dark sounding twist to it as the two wooden poles he was pulling from his pockets came free, each had a massive, metallic mallet on the head of them "...I'm GONNA KICK YOU'RE WISEGUY BACKSIDES FROM HERE TO TIMBUKTU!"

Luigi threw his head back and laughed like an utter loon when Wario's and Warluigi's jaws and eyes dropped open in utter horror at Luigi. Then they screamed in terror when Luigi crossed his legs over, sent himself into a mad spin which made him look like a whirling tornado with a pair of rotating hammers thrown into the mix.

Oh boy Luigi was going to enjoy this, all those thoughts he'd had earlier, all those plots, all those means of torture he wanted to do to the Wario's were all about to come true. "REVENGE TIIIIIIIIIME!" Luigi shouted before he was about to slam into the Wario's, completely prepared to smash these hammers over them.

"Luigi!" said a voice that sounded familiar and yet unreal "LUIGI!" it repeated. Before a single swing could be slammed into the Wario's, Luigi's view of things faded away to blackness and he felt his heavy eyelids slowly start to open.

It was a dream, it had all been a dream, he'd dreamed he'd found a magic mask that gave him super powers and made him feel confident and unstoppable. He knew it was too good to be true. When he opens his eyes he'll be back in his bed with nothing unusual going on at all.

He opened his eyes and screamed at what he did not expect to see, just nearly within touching distance laying in the pillow next to him was that wooden Mask he'd found. Spooked, he pushed himself away from it so rapidly that he dropped over the side and slammed into the solid floor with an "OOF!" escaping his mouth.

"LUIGI!" called the voice again, that was Mario's voice which brought Luigi fully back to reality. He might as well see what Mario wanted. Luigi got to his feet and immediately felt fatigued like he hadn't slept a wink last night. He stretched his arms and rotated his stiff neck hoping that relieving some tension might wake him up a little more, but it did no good.

Yawning Luigi opened his door and looked down over the rail, over which he could see the whole of the living room and standing in the middle of the star shaped rug was Mario looking up at his brother.

"The thing from the swamp has risen." Mario joked to him. "Where were you last night I was worried sick about you."

What did he mean, 'where were you?' he was right here, in the house sleeping. Odd though, he couldn't remember falling asleep but then could anyone?

"What do you mean? I was here the whole time." Luigi replied.

"No, you weren't Luigi" Mario said shaking his head "when I came back from my pasta hunt the house was conspicuous by your absence, and the mess you left. It looked like a tornado hit the place and I was worried you were going to do something stupid."

Left a mess? Why would Luigi leave a mess, he was a clean freak, if something was dirty he just had to clean it so that didn't make sense. Was Mario trying to play a joke on him?

Luigi's gaze momentarily turned 180 degrees, back into his bed room right at the wooden Mask laying beside his pillow. No, it couldn't be, could it? Luigi turned back to Mario who stood waiting for an answer to his question. Awkwardly instead of saying he didn't remember Luigi came out with "I just wanted to be on my own for a while, sort things out in my head."

"Oh..." Mario sounded a little unconvinced "you feeling better?"

"Oh yeah!" Luigi said with a little more enthusiasm then he felt the situation needed but truth be told he did feel a lot better after last night, as if a plug had been pulled out of the tank that had held his negative feelings and it had slowly drained nearly dry in the night. Curiouser and curiouser.

"Okay then." Mario said "Better get down here, I've made lunch!" and the fat plumber disappeared below Luigi's field of view as he walked into the kitchen area.

"Lunch? What do you mean Mario, it's only..." he glanced at his watch on his left wrist "Eleven fifty nine? Mamamia!" how could it be so late?

Luigi thought about what happened last night, but it was all so vague it was like a dream. He remembered getting home, Mario trying to brighten his mood then stepping out on a pasta hunt. Then Luigi retired to his room where he sulked, then... Luigi felt a cold shiver run down his spine, then he heard a voice from inside his head, a strange echoing type of voice that he later adopted when he... when he... when he put that mask on.

Luigi's attention momentarily returned to the object on his bed and the thing just smiled back at him with that mischievous grin that now looked a lot less irritating then it had done last night. He chuckled, this was silly, that must've been a dream there was no way anything he experienced last night could be real.

The green plumber began to descend the stairs on his left, it would've been great to have had those abilities, he could really beat up Koopa/Goomba gangs single handed without ever once feel frightened, in his dream he was brave, witty, everything he'd ever wanted and had the dream continued he was sure he would've finally got back at the Wario's for all their mischievous pranks over the years, but that didn't happen because Mario had to wake him up. Luigi sighed, oh well.

"News from a cross the Mushroom Kingdom!" said a familiar voice from a small TV set in the corner of the lounge area. Mario must've left it on, typical. The world was dying from wasted energy and Mario leaves the TV on when he's not watching it. Luigi picked up the remote and was about to turn off the TV when the news reader, a brown suit wearing Toad, said "This mornings top story, the Wario's wailed on! The local Koopa/Goomba gang get stomped and..." the TV went off. Luigi only caught those two and it triggered a very vivid memory, the one when he was fighting the Goomba's –in a dream of course- and beating them up. Luigi immediately turned the TV straight back on. "... we talk to two witnesses who claim to have seen this mysterious masked man who caused these occurrences."

"According to what Police have been able to piece together, the Wario brothers, the alternative ego's to the Mario's were attacked in their home last night by a man in a weird, green mask. After apparently beating the Wario's to within an inch of their lives they were then hung up from the top of a flag pole in Toad Town square..." the Toad news reader stopped for a second as if considering what he was about to read next was correct "...by their underwear."

The picture altered to video footage of the flag pole in question, Wario and Warluigi were indeed run up the pole like they were both flags and their underwear was where the rope was tied through. The two brothers were in a terrible state, they had multiple bruises and cuts all over them and Warluigi's usual thin, villain like face was puffed and swollen up.

"CCTV footage picked up the moment both of the Wario's were ran up the flag pole by this mysterious masked man" the picture changed again to a black and white CCTV image of the base of the flag pole "If you have seen this man, please inform your local police station as quickly as you can."

Out of the side of the screen came a black and white whirl of motion which stopped to resolve itself into Wario and Warluigi both beaten to hell and being carried by... "ME!" Luigi's eyes widened and his jaw dropped so far he thought it'd detach from his face and slam into the ground –again-, it was him! REALLY HIM! But not him, him, it was the other him, the one from his dream, the one he dreamt that that mask had turned him into.

The green faced Luigi reached down the back of both the Wario's pants and roughly pulled on their underwear giving them the mother of all wedgies before tying them to the rope of the flag pole and quickly running the pair up to the top. When they were at the top Luigi, 'that Luigi', gave the pair a comical and mocking two fingered salute like Benny Hill would. Then the figure turned to the camera, grinned broadly, wiggled his eye brows in a cheeky way before zooming off the camera faster than the camera could pick it up.

Luigi's lower jaw was close to falling out it was so low. He didn't remember ever doing that, in a dream or not but the TV had just shown that he was out last night really doing these things.

He must still be dreaming, he decided and pinched his arm. "OW!" okay he wasn't dreaming, but it couldn't possibly be real could it?

Without a seconds hesitation Luigi turned and ran back up the stairs into his bedroom, he could hear Mario shout up "Hey, what about your lunch?" before he slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it. He faced the Mask that was laying on his bed, its wide eyed smirk looking up at him.

Slowly he approached it like he would approach a sleeping tiger, -preferably by not approaching it at all and going the other way, but in this case he just approached it carefully as if it would snap out and attack him- He reached down and picked it up a little afraid it would zap him with energy or something, or jump out of his hands and slap onto his face again like last time, but it didn't. He turned it over and looked closer at it, the Mask resembled just that, a mask, what it did to him just couldn't be real, it just couldn't, it was impossible, that this one small, little thing could grant him such power, the power to be fearless, to be respected, to be admired, to be a hero.

He began to bring the thing closer to his face, he could be the hero if he wore this thing. It'll be like his magic talisman, his magic ring, he could be more than just a hero, he could be a super hero. The Mask was inches away from his face and he felt his body start to tremble not in anticipation, but in fear. It must draw its energy from something supernatural and Luigi was dead scared of the supernatural. Deciding not to wait any longer he rammed the thing onto his face and pain echoed over his face and embarrassingly he screamed.

It wasn't working! The pain he felt was just the wood grain pressing itself sharply into his face but as far as he could tell it wasn't doing anything but sit on his face. Huh? He looked in the mirror and immediately felt stupid because he looked stupid. Luigi the super hero looked like a dumb, green plumber in an ancient wooden mask that was as glamorous as Mario was a Charles Atlas.

His hopes and dreams dashed again Luigi removed the Mask, felt annoyed because his face was now temporarily pitted with the impression of the Masks' wooden inside into his skin, and tossed the useless piece of junk back onto his bed. He turned and left the room, slamming the door on the stupid thing as he went, a stupid thing that had landed upright on his bed against the wall and looked as if it was watching him go.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> A friend has pointed me to some video's on a *Coff, coff* certain video hosting site that shows old episodes of the Super Mario World show which I remember watching as a kid, so I'm going to draw a little more inspiration of the Mario's from those cartoons rather then come up with the personalities based on how the pair behave in the games, and so far I think it's working.

My vision for Luigi's Mask is sort of based a little off Stanley's Mask, but I've added the dark humour and attidutde of Betelguise with just a dash of Michael Jackson-ish style in the way he moves around.

-Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and as always all reviews are welcome.


	6. Anger Management Problems

**Authors notes:** The number of updates on my stories have become less these days because the work load at my job is really starting to get heavy, apparently because we're so close to Christmas or something. So its really been wearing me out but I'll always find time to write ;) Updates will be just a little less frequent.

Anyway, on with the story.

Cheers

**-TimeLordParadox**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**Anger Management Problems**

Today has been a good day for General Karnage, Karnage had decided. He'd just sent several Koopa platoon's through their paces, each day they were getting better at fighting, better at defending, better at dodging things like rogue shells that spin into them and avoiding the stomping Thwamps, large stone blocks that acted as traps for the unwary because they slammed down on top of anyone foolish enough to stand underneath them. It was to simulate avoiding the Marios stomping attacks on the Koopa's and they were now much, much better at avoiding this simple attack.

Some of the Goomba's who couldn't do anything except charge were getting faster and more accurate, they could now turn while they were running instead of running in a straight line, stopping, and turn around before charging again as they usually do.

Karnage was very proud of them and looked forward to seeing them in action the next time they went up against Mario. Speaking of his Koopa's he wondered what had happened to that platoon he sent to kidnap Luigi, he hadn't heard a thing from them for hours. He'd asked for regular reports on how well the distraction was going but so far he was in the dark and Bowser was getting impatient, all the Koopa's were ready and waiting for the order to begin the invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom but without the information that Luigi was captured and Mario was on his way to rescue him the invasion was a no go.

He thought for a moment of just lying to Bowser, saying it was clear to begin the invasion. He was glad he didn't because early this morning he found three of his best Koopa's he'd sent on that mission. They were standing in the middle of the hall just outside the sick ward covered in bandages and casts. Oh no, what the heck had just happened? Was it too much to ask that they've kidnapped Luigi and their injuries were just the result of the three Koopa's tripping down the stairs? He doubted it.

Karnage approached them all with a burning anger in his step. One of the Koopa's had one eye covered by a bandage but that didn't stop him spotting Karnage as he approached. He looked like he was going to attempt to run away and thought better of it because he could barely move with his legs in casts and leaning on crutches.

"What are all you three doing here?" Karnage fumed "You're supposed to be guarding Luigi."

The three Koopa's looked nervously at each other for a good ten seconds before one of them perked up enough courage to say. "Umm... we never managed to get Luigi, sir"

All three Koopas then clamped their hands over their ears when Karnage shouted "WHAAATT!"

"Ahh... please don't shout, we've got massive headaches!"

"I wouldn't worry about your headaches, that can be cured... with a 'swim' in the lava lake!" he fumed "What when wrong?" The Koopa who was speaking swallowed as he related the events.

"Well... we arrived at the Mario's house last night and Mario left the house, while he was out we tried to storm the house and take Luigi by force. But then we were jumped, sir!"

"I thought you were well trained enough to avoid their stomp attacks!" Karnage said raising one of ihs bushy eye brows and folding his arms as he listened to the Koopa's excuses.

"No, not 'jumped' jumped, and not by the Marios. We were ambushed by a dark tornado." This was really, really bad news Karnage realised. They didn't have Luigi therefore Mario was not on his way to rescue him and therefore the invasion could not possibly succeed, not with Mario guarding the Princess and certainly not with Bowser at the head of the force against the red plumber. "It just slammed into us and knocked us flat with one strike!" the Koopa continued to explain.

"Bowser will knock us all down with one strike if he finds out about this!" Karnage stated fixing them with a stare that told them to keep quiet about this to Bowser. Unfortunately luck was one of the things that was not on his side today.

"If I find out about what Karnage?" said a low growl of a voice followed by several large stamps of massively heavy feet. How could 'Billion Tone Bowser' sneak up on them all like this when he makes more noise than a train pulling into a station? Was he tiptoeing?

When the stamping stopped Karnage slowly turned to see the massive features of Bowser looming over him.

"Ah, Bowser, do you have a new plan to capture Peach?" Karnage said quickly trying to move the conversation on.

"I want to know how 'my' current plan is going." He chuckled darkly rubbing his massive claws together, "Have you received a report yet? Have your Koopa's captured Green Mario? Is 'Mario' Mario on his way to rescue his weakling, green brother yet?",Karnage could sense his three Koopa's trying to shrink away from this situation before it got ugly.

"Stand your ground men." Karnage said while keeping most of his attention on Bowser, if he was going to get a beating he was going to take down this useless rabble with him. Karnage had to think quickly, the invasion couldn't go ahead if the Koopa's had failed their mission and 'they' were supposed to be his best.

"We've had a slight complication." Karanage said, his brain still whirling to think of something.

"What kind of complication?" Bowser said, his features and his voice turning grave and darker.

"Just a slight delay, we might have to put the invasion back for a few days." Karnage said.

"I ORDERD IT DONE LAST NIGHT!" Bowser shouted that them so loud it echoed around the corridor and the Koopa's behind Karnage shot their fingers into their ears. Kanrage just stood and took the full force of the shout and just wished he had a bucket of Listerine, Bowsers breath was still rank.

"Sir, there was nothing we could do!" said a Koopa behind him, cracking under the strain "We were set upon by a dark tornado, it just mowed is down sir, we didn't stand a chaYANGAG!" he howled when Karnage, still facing Bowser, stamped on the Koopa's foot to shut him up. "Yes, thank you Judas!"

Bowser may be a few Koopas short of a troopa at times but he wasn't stupid, already his brain was figuring out from that stupid Koopa's panicked mumbles what had happened.

"'Your' plan has failed Karnage, the entire invasion hinged on this operation and you failed!" Karnage noted that when Bowser liked his plan he claimed it as his own, yet now was calling it Karnages plan when it went wrong. "I don't tolerate failure among the Koopa's, Karnage, you know that, right!"

"Really sir?" Karnage said sarcastically because Bowser at times just never seemed to give a damn "You must be short of troops in that case."

"Exactly!" Bowser shouted completely missing that Karnage had just taken a shot at him. "Think yourself lucky I am in a forgiving mood, Karnage! Or I'd have your shell smashed and your 'General' rank demoted to Captain."

_Oh no, how on earth will I ever live with myself_ Karnage thought sarcastically in his head. Ironically General was just a nick name of his, the Koopa's didn't even have a ranking system. So if Karange makes another mistake he's then given the rank of Captain? 'Result!' as far as he was concerned.

With that last word said Bowser spun around and a General Karnage had to leap back before Bowsers massive tail swiped him, and the Koopa Kings massive bulk thudded off into the distance of the corridor.

"Well, we escaped that unharmed?" another of the injured Koopas behind Karnage said.

"Yeah, I thought we were all goners!" another of the three said.

"We must be having a lucky day!" the final one said.

"What's all this 'WE' stuff?" Karnage turned to the three Koopa's "You've escaped Bowser, but you'll have to die before you escape me!"

The Koopas all shrank away slightly at their slightly taller and angrier looking leader. One of the three injured Koopas, one that appeared to be the smartalic suddenly said nervously. "Anyone want a dip in Lava Lake?"

"Aye!" the other two said.

* * *

><p>Luigi had not thought about that strange mask since he threw it onto his bed while leaving his room. It was odd but the more he thought about it the more real his 'dream' seemed to become. The more he heard about this mysterious masked man and what he did the more he realised how similar it was to his dream. Surely this was a coincidence, a pure coincidence that he should lose consciousness for a number of hours during which this masked man mysteriously turned up terrorised Koopa gangs and the Warios, and mysteriously vanish in the early hours of the morning before Luigi woke up again. Just a coincidence. He didn't have a second thought about that mask for two reasons, one he tried it on and it didn't do anything, and two he was busy holding a big heavy sack of coins on his back.<p>

Today Luigi felt proud of himself. He'd been charged with an important task by Peach, to deliver a bag of coins to an orphanage just two miles outside of Toad Town. He thought this a great honour, except he had to carry a heavy sack on his back and he was rapidly losing his grip. Didn't they have any back packs in the castle?

He wasn't alone though, to act as an escort and to help carry the bag he had a friend with him, a Toad called Toadrok. This was a little awkward for Luigi because in his dream he remembered saving this specific Toad from the Koopa gang earlier last night, in his dream of course, a very vivid and accurate dream he was only now realising, was he psychic or something? Luigi however just behaved as if they'd never met, because they couldn't have before.

"Hey Luigi" Toadrok said suddenly when Luigi stumbled and nearly dropped the bag "Do you want me to take that sack from you? You look tired."

"Yeah okay, this is giving my back, back ache." Luigi complained and slowly lowered the back to the floor. They were about three quarters of the way there so Toadrok could carry the bag for a change.

Toadrok knelt down and lifted the entire bag above his head with what appeared to be little effort, but because of his smaller hands the bag folded in on itself at the edges of his hands and flopped down over his head making him look like a bag with legs.

"Wow, this thing really is heavy. I hope the orphanage appreciates us throwing our backs out to deliver it." He commented from under the bag.

"Yeah, my aches and pains are feeling aches and pains." And so they continued walking down the dusty path over to the orphanage. Luigi could just see it in the distance, a tall mushroom shaped building with a red roof and white, curved walls.

Toads often lived in tall mushroom shaped buildings like this. That was just their architecture, Toads were technically giant fungi on legs after all. That was not a very flattering description and a very insulting thought, Luigi realised, accurate but insulting. Must just be his fatigue showing through, he still felt very tired.

"Hey, did you hear about that masked man who beat up the Warios?" Toadrok asked. Luigi didn't really want to talk about this, so he just said "Yeah" unenthusiastically.

"I saw him last night" Toadrok said excitedly "I was the Toad he saved from t he Koopa gang." He paused for a moment before adding "But to be honest I think the guy went too far with the Warios."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Luigi asked suddenly caring what Toadrok had to say about the masked man.

"Well, those Koopas deserved it, they were going to rob me and Toadsel blind." He explained, his voice muffled by the bag and jingling of gold coins inside. "The Wario's didn't do anything wrong, not recently anyway." Luigi stopped in his tracks and Toadrok walked into the back of him.

"What do you mean? They threw me down a man hole and locked me in!" Luigi insisted twisting to face the bag with legs.

"Umm... no offence Luigi, but that's not a good enough reason for a stranger to beat them half to death."

"What do you mean, not a good enough reason!" Luigi suddenly felt something twitch in the back of his head and he felt his anger start to simmer a little.

"Whoa, calm down Luigi!" the Toad said under the bag "They shouldn't have done that to you, but to beat them within an inch of their lives for no clear reason is just over kill. He must have had a grudge against them."

"Who doesn't! They humiliate me, they copy me and Mario, they constantly cause nothing but problems for me and Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom!" he fumed.

"Luigi, if I didn't know better I'd say you were that masked man." Toadrok said. This sent shockwaves bouncing around Luigi's head.

"If you didn't know better?"

"Hey, I'm not trying to insult you" Toadrok said "You're just not the sort of person to go after someone unjustly."

"Oh..." Luigi said realising he was making a fool of himself. He took a deep breath of the crisp, cool air and let the anger just drain away. "Sorry, I had a really bad night."

"No kidding, you look dead on your feet." Toadrok said. He started to tip over from the additional weight he was carrying as he said this but quickly regained his balance.

They continued walking towards the orphanage. The comment Toadrok just made about Luigi and this masked man being the same person really made him feel slightly uneasy. Inside he began to laugh, it was a ridicules thought thinking they were the same person.

Luigi suddenly got a very vivid image in his head of him standing over the terrified Wario and Warluigi with a heavy mallet above his head. He swung it down and smashed it into the Wario's heads causing cracks to form in their teeth clenched. This snapped Luigi back into his mind. He felt cold and he could feel butterflies in his stomach. What his mind conjured up was a terrible image, how could his brain invent such a horrific dream?

They turned up outside the door of the orphanage, it had a large blue door with peeling, blue paint on it. Luigi raised his left hand and knocked on the door and waited for it to open. His mind wondered, with all the monthly donations how come they still live in this old building?

The door opened and a young Toadette answered the door. She wore a pink waist coat –which seemed to be the uniform of all toads- except hers was buttoned up. Her cap was yellow with white spots and from the sides of her head two strands of 3 multiple cap growths sprouted out making them look like pig tails.

"Oh, hello Toadrok" she said, somehow able to recognise Toadrok under that massive bag, before turning to Luigi and suddenly realised who he was and her face brightened a little "Oh! Hello Luigi"

"Hi" Luigi said quickly because he had to avoid the bag Toadrok swung off his head and onto the floor missing Luigi's feet by inches. "Hey watch it."

"Oh, is this the donation from the princess?" the Toadette asked excitedly.

"That's right Toad'la" Toadrok said "100,000 gold coins from the treasury. We could've give more earlier but Bowser really damaged the castle this time."

"Oh , that Bowser!" Toad'la said stamping her foot in annoyance "I'm surprised he still tries considering the number of times you and Mario have beaten him back Luigi."

The green suited plumber could feel his cheeks start to turn red with embarrassment and he felt his pride grow. It was very rarely that anyone was so flattering about him and he couldn't help a nervous little chuckle escaping him.

"Would you both like to come inside for a cup of tea?" she asked.

"That's very sweet of you, but I can't." Toadrok said "Toadsworth wants me to sweep the floors of the throne room, there's still a lot of work to finish off."

"Oh, that Bowser again!" Toadrok stamped her foot again. She then turned to Luigi "Surely you'd like to stay Luigi, the kids would ever be so excite to see one of the Mushroom Kingdom's heroes in the flesh."

Luigi didn't think his face could go any redder, yet he was feeling it turn scarlet. He could go for a good cup of tea right now anyway, or coffee, anything to help him relax a little.

"I'd be delighted" Luigi said trying to act like a well composed gentleman but he failed the illusion when he nearly lost his balance on a loose cobble at his feet.

"Oh goodie, the children will be so excited" she said.

"I'll see you later then Luigi." Toadrok said "Later, Toad'la" and he waved at her as he turned and started walking away down the street. Luigi couldn't help but notice Toad'la watched him got for a good ten seconds before turning back to Luigi.

"Come right in Luigi" she said holding the door open and Luigi being the gentleman hoisted the bag back onto his shoulders and carried it into the hall, clumsily nearly losing his footing with the heavy bag on his back.

Toad'la lead Luigi down the hall and into a large looking room with a high ceiling which made the room feel very cold. A fire burned in a brick and stone fireplace on one side of the room and sitting in a circle surrounding some kind of board game were several Toadtots of varying age from eight year olds up to mid-teens.

Luigi dropped the heavy sack of coins which jingled on to the floor. This distracted the Toadtotts attention away from the board game and all their eyes were on Toad'la.

"Hey, guess what!" Toad'la said excitedly to the kids, "We've got a visitor who's just brought the Princesses' donation. It's one of the Mario's has come to visit!"

This caught their attention and all the Toadtots leapt up excitedly from the board game on the floor and raced to see Luigi, and he stood ready to receive flattery.

"Oh, it's only Luigi, I thought it was Mario!" they said and Luigi's pride popped like a balloon, especially when the other Toadtots all moaned in disappointment.

"Now, now, Luigi is our guest so I want you to treat him like any other visitor." Toad'la said turning and walking past Luigi "I'll just be a moment, I'm going to put the kettle on."

Luigi nodded as Toad'la left, when she was gone he turned to the kids who all looked at him with bored un-impressiveness etched onto their faces that just did nothing but make him feel even more insecure about the situation.

"What's wrong with Luigi anyway?" said a quiet voice from the corner of the room. A small Toadtot with a pure white cap sat in the shadows in one corner of the room playing by himself with a toy boat he had in his hands. The way the others all looked at him marked him out as the outcast, the one who didn't fit in, one who was probably constantly bullied by the others. But surely they wouldn't do anything while Luigi was here, he was watching them after all. How wrong he was.

"What's wrong with Luigi?" one of the taller Toadtots said taking a few steps towards the white cap. "He's useless!" again with the word 'useless' "He doesn't do anything, all he does is get in Mario's way. If Luigi was out of the picture Mario would be even more awesome."

"I'm standing right here you know!" Luigi said, a slight nervous twitch developed in his left cheek for a second.

"But if it wasn't for Luigi, Mario would've died several times before, the story of the haunted mansion and..."

"Those stories aren't true you idiot!" the second largest of the Toadtots said "You're really dumb if you believe all that garbage."

"I'm still standing right here!" Luigi said but still the bullying bunch of bulbs continued.

"If you like Luigi so much, why don't you marry him!" said the tallest Toadtot. "You and Luigi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" and he laughed. This opened the flood gates and soon all but the lone white Toadtot started singing the annoying song "You and Luigi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!."

"You and Luigi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"You and Luigi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Luigi, desperate to drawn out that annoying song pulled his cap over his ears hoping to block it out, but it kept coming, he even shut his eyes and shoved his fingers in his ears but that didn't do any good either. "You and Luigi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" more laughter. Luigi opened his eyes and looked at the lone Toadtot who just shrank away further and further into the corner.

Something stirred in the back of the plumbers brain, something squirming, teasing, pushing against him. Something started bubbling to the surface. He felt angry. They were picking on a defenceless Toadtot who was shorter and weaker than they were. He was probably the only Toadtot who believed in him and they were ridiculing him for believing in stories of Luigi's heroism that Luigi himself knew were true but the others didn't believe or didn't want to believe, and Luigi himself was just standing there doing nothing! He felt he should do something. He clenched his fingers trying to keep this red, raw force under control but it was no good, and like a volcano he did something spontaneous.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU OVER EVOLVED BUNCH OF ATHLETES FOOT!" he fumed.

All the Toadtots all turned rapidly to look at him and all gasped at Luigi's outburst, which Luigi immediately regretted. What he'd said was probably the worst thing he could possibly say, not only was it insulting, but worse, it was discrimination against Toads, it was 'fungist'. Luigi didn't mean to shout out something so crude and nasty, he just wanted to tell them to leave the little Toadtot alone but the other seven words just escaped out with the other three.

The other Toadtots stood there in utter shock, their mouths wide open yet not speaking.

Luigi chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his head and embarrassingly said "Sorry".

"Luigi!" said an astonished voice behind him followed by the clattering of china tea cups and tea pots shattering onto the floor. Slowly Luigi turned to see Toad'la's shocked face which made him feel even worse. "How could you use such language and in front of such young children?"

Luigi didn't say anything, there was no excuse he could give for what he'd just said. He just stood there ashamed with himself. He looked down at the floor and simply said "Sorry."

"I think you should leave, Mr. Luigi" Toad'la said, she didn't raise her voice which made Luigi feel even worse. It was a polite but insistent way of saying, 'get out'.

As Luigi passed her into the hall all he could do was say again "I'm really sorry."

"Just go!" she said now with a stern tone in her voice. He approached the front door, opened it and went through it and closed it behind him and just slowly walked away utterly disappointed with himself, but at the same time annoyed that those Toadtots were going to get away with teasing the little one and not be punished. Okay, they lived in poverty, but that was no excuse to bully each other and visitors, if orphans acted like that no one would give them any money. If Bowser knew how badly behaved those kids were he'd probably give them a donation due to his very backwards thinking, Bowser did have a large collection of coins in his castle but honestly that oversized greedy gecko would never give a single coin, he'd steal golden teeth from a granny if he wanted to.

He was having a lot of weird thoughts recently Luigi realised, in fact a lot of weird things were going on here, the appearance of the green guy, Luigi's flaring anger. The fact that the green guy had beaten up the Warios in the same manner as he had done in his dream and the only thing he could think of that could be responsible for it was that odd mask he'd found. He'd placed it on his face this morning and nothing happened, but could it still have something to do with all this weirdness?

It took Luigi a little while to return home now with determination in his step, oddly the sun was disappearing behind the hills as he returned home but then he realised he'd spent most of the day sleeping until noon which is why the sun appeared to be setting so early.

He pushed into the house and marched up the stairs. He could hear Mario humming to himself loudly in the shower down the hall. Luigi thought of shouting for him to see what he thought of all this, but oddly something in Luigi's mind was stopping him, a sense of pride or something like that, saying this was something he had to do himself.

He pushed open the door to his bedroom and there it was. That creepy mask propped up against his bed looking at him, that odd grin it had laughing at him. He went up to it and picked it up and held it in his hands.

As the day went on Luigi started to get more bubbling images of what he supposedly did last night while wearing it. He remembered pulling on Warluigi's zigzag moustache and straightening it out, he remembered trying to push Wario's head down the toilet all the while saying "I think I flushed my gold fish down the sewer, why don't you go rescue them!" he said while he continually flushed Wario's head trying to make it go down the bowl.

He remembered Warluigi trying to call for help over the phone while Luigi was flushing Wario's head, and somehow the masked plumber managed to take over the phone line from where he was. "You have reached the Toad Town Police Department" Luigi somehow made the phone say "I'm sorry but none of our operators are available at the moment, please wait, your call is being held in a queue. In the meantime here's a little music..."

"There may be trouble ahead"

"But while there's music and moonlight and love and romance"

"Let's face the music and dance!"

"... your call is being held in a queue, please hold. Or you may prefer to call back later..." at which point Warluigi freaked out when Luigi, after failing to flush Wario down the toilet grabbed Warluigi's skinny frame. "Hey, you're the brother, you're fair game! HAHAHA!"

Luigi remembered it much clearly now and he even remembered enjoying it despite how he feels about it now. But it must be a dream, it was obviously a dream because he put this thing on this morning and it didn't do what it did last night and...

His trail of thought was interrupted as a familiar green light passed over the inside of the Mask, mesmerising him for just a second. Did he just see that? No, no, it must just be his imagination and to prove it to himself he placed the Mask on his face.

His face instantly felt cold and numb, then with a mighty bang of thunder Luigi felt the Mask instantly warp and start to wrap over his head again, while at the same time a great wind pushed him off his feet into a rapid spinning form again! He didn't even have time to think!

He screamed again as he whirled around and around causing flashes and bangs in his wake. He felt instantly warm and his brain instantly altered when he came to a screeching halt, dressed in the dark attire of that masked man. His hat was pushed down over his eyes and he pushed his hand into the air extending his fore and little fingers while folding his middle finger, and he screamed an "OOOWWwwww, yeah! Guess who's back for round two!"

Luigi raced forward and pushed open his bedroom window and leapt out into the night and landed on the ground face first leaving a Luigi shaped hole as he sank six foot down. He leapt out of the hole, landed on the edge and sent himself into another whirling spin. When he emerged he was dressed in the shiny armour of a medieval knight. Curiously he had stopped questioning the weirdness of these transformations and just decided to go with it rather than resist it. Luigi drew a sword from the scabbard on the armours hip and held it in the air.

"Thy shall begin thy quest!" he said holding the sword out pointing in the direction of Bowser's castle "I must find money for the rotten children at the orphanage." _Yeah, he was helping them out after they insulted him go figure!_ He suddenly thought to himself and shot forward in a whirling twisting form heading straight for Bowser's castle. Luigi wanted to make up for his outburst at the Toadtots, so to make up for it he was going to break into Bowsers castle, track down his coins and give them to the orphanage as a sorry, because nothing says sorry better than a bunch of stolen gold coins from a giant gecko.

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> Luigi's outburst and shorter temper is due to the effects of the Mask. Both in the Mask comic and the Mask movie the cursed artefact seems to have an effect on the wearer's mind making them tetchy, short tempered and irritable.

The point of this chapter is to show how the Mask is subtly starting to affect Luigi's mind while he's not wearing it, and the flashbacks to the previous night show how the Mask is twisting his mind while he is wearing it.

-Hope everyone enjoyed the new chapter.


	7. Anyone call a Plumber?

**Authors notes:** Sorry for the long wait on this update readers. I've been really busy at work and Uni over the past few weeks and I haven't had a chance to kick back and start writing. But hopefully my little rest has brought up the quality of my writing again and I hope the wait was worth it.

-Enjoy

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**Anyone call a Plumber?**

Karnage had escaped what could've been a messy end at the hands of Bowser Koopa but he didn't go easy on the Koopa's who blabbed out their failure to Bowser himself. Those Koopa's were currently being punished. Karnage had assigned them the worst job in the entire castle, worse than cleaning out the sewers, worse than marching across the rocky terrain. He had assigned them to be the audience of Wendy O'Koopa, an audience she was going to sing to. Wendy was one of Bowsers many offspring who, like him, had the look of a troll, the temper of a bull and the voice of a banshee. To listen to one of her performances was like sticking hot needles in your ears. The advantage of this was Karnage will know when the punishment began, because you could've heard Wendy if you were on Mars.

Right now though she wasn't singing –thank the gods- and Karnage was observing his marching band of Koopa's, who were now his best with the elimination of the others. He had been far too soft on the others he'd realised, he needed to be most strict, more stern, he needed to push them to beyond their breaking point.

"COME ON YOU" he shouted at them "I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD!" he chanted for the others to copy.

"I don't know but I've been told!" the Koopa's chanted as they ran past him over the obstacle course he'd prepared for them. Old tyres, netting ,walls to climb, you name the obstacle it was there, these Koopa's were going to be tough even if it killed them.

"BOWSER KOOPA'S REALLY OLD!" Karnage bellowed at them. It was a dig at Bowser but knowing the rock headed Koopa King he wouldn't see the insult in there, he'd just think they were flattering him by singing about him.

"Bowser Koopa's really old!" his Koopa troop sang as they all dived under netting and crawled along in the mud on their stomachs.

"I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD!" he chanted again.

"HEY, EYEBROWS!" someone shouted from behind Karnage, he turned to see what Koopa dared say that to him but there was no-one there, at all. Karange did note that he caught a slight breeze in the face that hadn't been there before, almost as if something had just blasted past him very fast while his back was turned. He turned around and still no one was there, he'll deal with that Koopa later.

"I don't know but I've been told!" his Koopas sang the last line of that rhyme, then a new voice called out a different line from the one Karnage was going to say, it was a freaky voice with a slight echo to it.

"FOUND YOUR SHORTS AND I GRABBED AHOLD!"" Karanges single eye went wide when he felt the back of his underwear being pulled up out from the back of his shell in the mother of all wedgies, one that was pulled over his head and snapping shut at his neck, snapping his head back.

"Found your shorts and... huh?" he heard his Koopa Troop question while he tried with all his strength to remove his underwear from his head. He heard the cackling laugh of someone standing just behind him, the one who'd pulled this humiliating prank to him, someone who laughed like a total lunatic. Then just as suddenly as this mystery being had appeared he'd vanished, and by the sound of it he was heading straight for the castle!

Karnage wanted to scream out 'Intruder Alert, hit the alarm' but his underpants were acting like a gag preventing any useful command from leaving his mouth. He fought against his strangling underpants and fell backwards and rolled onto the back of his shell in his struggles. When he gets his hands on that guy he'll kill him!

The front gates of Bowsers castle flew open as Luigi slammed into them at full speed and burst into the main hall spinning like a mad Tasmanian devil before coming to a total stop to face whatever guards and bad guys he might need to defeat.

Luigi emerged from his twister form dressed now in the garb of one of the three mustakteers, with a long sword and all that stuff, ready to fight. "En-guard, you foul turtles, present your arms and we shall do battle!"

But his impressive and loony entrance was wasted because there was no one in the hall, not a single Koopa, not even a hammer brother or one of those Koopa's in armour. No one at all.

"Hello!" he called out and his voice echoed back to him. "Green faced guy here! Just broken in!" He tapped his foot for a moment glancing at his watch before calling out "Anyone call a plumber?" but still no answer "Avon!" he called but there was not a twitter from anyone.

He removed his large musketeer hat which had an even larger feather in it and scratching the back of his head for a few seconds he wondered why there was no on here to 'welcome him'. He replacing the hat firmly on his head and turned back to face the doors he'd just slammed through, which had flung back and hit the walls they were attached to and were now swinging slowly closed again. Only then did he realise why there were no guards to fight him. When the heavy wooden doors flew open and slammed into the walls beside them, they had both crushed four armoured guard Koopa's into the stone work. Slowly they fell forwards out of the holes they had made in the walls and landed on the solid stone floor in a daze.

"Hey! Four down and I haven't even started yet!" he said clapping his hands together for a job well done and turned to look at the long dark corridor that looked eerie, dangerous, probably full of traps and dangers. Had he been just Luigi he would've felt quiet scared, brave enough to actually do the job that needed to be done, but still just a wimp. But now he was a wimp wearing a magic mask that makes him invulnerable.

Luigi was mindful that his clothes had turned back into his new identities garb of a long dark coat and stuff and quickly Luigi remembered why he was here. To steal _–no scratch that-_ 'borrow' _–no, that was clichéd-_ 'accept an anonymous donation on behalf of the orphans of the Mushroom Kingdom'_ –yeah, that was better-_ and it was going to be anonymous because Bowser wasn't even going to realise he was making it, ha!

"Now, where would a 2D character like Bozo Bowser keep his coins?" Luigi wondered aloud scratching the back of his head again. What happened next was weird, he felt his head pop open and swing back on a hinge as his brain snaked out still attached to his spinal cord and the pink organ dangled and front of his face. "Duh!" his brain said through a mouth that had opened up in it "He'd put his coins in a safe, use your head!" and with that the brain snaked back into his head and the skull slammed shut. Luigi rolled his blue eyes "He really gives me a headache sometimes" That was so freaky Luigi knew the old Luigi would've panicked and screamed but he knew subconsciously he wanted that to happen, for what reason he didn't know, to scare away any bad guys maybe, but either way it happened.

Deciding to forget it he plunged his hands into his trouser pockets and began walking in any direction he fancied, he was in no danger after all because this mask protected him from getting injured, he was in no danger at all.

* * *

><p>Luigi was so busy being smug and self satisfied that he didn't notice the small silver puddle that had formed just between the cracks of the stonework in the floor. He stepped into it and it rippled like any normal puddle, but as the Masked Luigi walked on putting some distance between himself and this puddle it suddenly gathered itself into a streaking blob of silver and as if it had consciousness and as if it could sense Luigi was its prey the thing snaked its way after him, moving over the stone work like flowing mercury.<p>

* * *

><p>As Luigi swaggered down a corridor meeting very little resistance from anyone and coming across none of the common tricks and traps at all like Thwamps, Thwimps, long, swinging arms of fire, bottomless pits and so on. Maybe they weren't active unless the castle was under assault or if a certain plumber managed to get inside. It wouldn't do any good for Bowser of his kids if they kept activating traps every time they walk down a corridor.<p>

He heard a loud bang of something heavy slamming into a solid surface. Upon hearing it he ducked down, curled up and produced a long umbrella that he held over his head. He didn't know why he had produced that thing, it wasn't going to stop what sounded like a Thwamp about to smash right into him. But nothing happened.

He waited about five seconds before he lowered his umbrella and looked up at the ceiling, it was where the sound came from, and there he saw a Thwamp, a large stone, cube like stone creature who's only purpose was to fall and smash into anyone foolish enough to step under them. But this Thwamp wasn't able to fall straight to the floor as it was walled in by bright yellow blocks with a white exclamation mark on them, stopping its progress. Clearly this was to make the Thawmp safe so it doesn't fall on anyone by mistake.

Quickly this thought was pushed out of his mind and another one formed, one that to him was the most important thought he was having at the moment. It was, as a super hero what was he going to call himself? Super Luigi? _-Nah, too lame, it needs to be something that described me- _Green Face? _-Nah, sounds like a villain- _the Green Lantern? _-It's been done- _Green Mask? _No, never._

"Hey, what have you two bozos done with my lipstick?" said a high pitched scream of a voice that made Luigi stop in his tracks.

"What do I want with your lip stick?" said a lower, tougher voice "Get lost! Can't you see I'm counting coins here?" _Did he just say coins?_ Luigi thought and a broad grin of mischief came over his face. He knew those voices all too well, they could be none other than Roy and Wendy O. Koopa, two of the Koopalings and two of the worst, especially when Wendy tries to sing at you. It was always best to carry a pair of ear plugs when dealing with her and her singing, actually singing wasn't the word for it, 'screeching' was a better word but there was no words that described what came out of her mouth when she opened it. Actually there was, it was called bad breath. If she was ever on X Factor she'd knock the judges dead just by breathing on them.

His mind was so busy coming up with these silly thoughts that he almost didn't catch the third voice.

"Will you two guys shut up? King Pap's always saying you talk way too much and I agree you always talk" the third voice said this very fast "In all our plans you both argue and yammer and the Mario's sneak past you or take you by surprise, I'm just thankful I don't talk as much as you do, I'd be embarrassed if I had a motor mouth like you two... OWW!" he screamed when there was an audible crack of fist on a Koopa's head.

"Can it, Bigmouth!" Roy said. Ah, Bigmouth, the nickname of Morton Koopa, a nickname that suited him well since he had a mouth that could overtake Speedy Gonzales. "That hurt you muscle brained thick skulled, bigmouth..."

"Quiet the pair of you, I want my lipstick back!" Wendy screeched so loud she could've brought down the walls of Jericho herself. Luigi knew he had a job to do but when the opportunity for revenge knocks and shouts and entices him so well he just can't resist. Anyway Roy said he had coins and Luigi, especially the new Luigi liked collecting coins, who didn't like coins? They could be exchanged for goods and services and when you have a lot of them you don't have to work!

Smoothly Luigi walked over to a large pair of double doors and without fear or hesitation, he lifted his leg up and kicked it open with such force its clang could be heard echoing all around the castle. He wasn't concerned about attracting attention any more. The three Koopalings stood around each other in a circle arguing but their attention snapped up to Luigi the moment the doors flew open.

"Hello!" Luigi welcomed them flinging out his arms "Koopalings, I'm from the council we've had reports of terrible singing coming from your residence." He joked.

The three Koopalings were as different as the last, odd since they were supposed to be born by the same father and mother. Roy, the tough one, was a muscularly looking Koopa with a pink shell with a spike sticking out if it and held himself like someone ready to fight or bully, he also wore a pair of black shades to hide his eyes. Wendy was a girl Koopa, in fact Luigi was sure she was the only female Koopa in the whole of Bowser's kingdom. _Let's hope so, because then they can't breed!_ Wendy had a bow in her... Luigi didn't know if you could call it hair, but she had a bow on her head, red lip stick that had been applied so thickly she was almost a circus clown and mean looking beady eyes, with long lashes and mascara. She's g_one a little overboard with her appearance, who'd wanna go out with that? She could go dating with the elephant man and he'd be the looker!_

Morton Koopa was unlike any of the other two, in fact he was unlike any Koopa Luigi had ever seen because he was grey and brown while all the other Koopa's, Koopaling or not were orange. He was also short, had a pale face with a grey star on his left eye and had a wide mouth so all his words could come out at once he imagined.

"Who the heck are you?" Roy shouted stamping his left foot which made the ground shake. The masked Luigi however was taking more notice of a small pile of coins behind the large Koopa, each coin was stacked up one on top of the other like building blocks.

"I'm from a local charity appeal!" Luigi said somehow producing a clipboard and pen from out of nowhere to make himself look more official. "Got any spare coins to give to the needy?" This was obviously not an answer the three had expected because they all glanced at each other as if asking each other silently if they knew what he was talking about.

"Hey, I've got coins!" Roy said "But I need more, so I'm more in need of coins, so why don't you give all your coins to me, that will help the needy, Haw, haw!" he chuckled at his own, really bad joke. Luigi decided to show he was the one making the jokes here.

Quick as a flash before either of them could react Luigi moved and was standing next to Roy, who jumped backed a little startled. Luigi knocked on the back of his shell. "I'll say you're needy, needy for some new threads, I mean a pink shell, that was sooooo last century." He said this in the voice of a fashion consultant. "...or are you wearing pink because..." Luigi coughed and tried to gesture with his hands "you know..."

"Am I what?" Roy said as if daring him to say it, he bulked himself up to make him appear taller and more intimidating probably expecting the masked Luigi to back down, but he didn't.

"You know, the sort of guy who looks at Jonny Depp and goes, 'Ummmm nice!'" Luigi wiggled his eyebrows at this. Both the quip and action had been successful in pushing Roy's buttons because he cracked his knuckles and with his muscles bulging he drew his arm back and threw a punch at the masked plumber, but Luigi did something freaky, his body and torso stayed where they were but his head warped out of shape to the left to avoid the punch. Roy was going for a multiple strike attack because he pulled his left arm back and tried to punch Luigi's face with his right, followed by another with his lift fist but Luigi's face kept warping the correct way to avoid the strike. Looking a little confused at this bizarre thing Roy tried a shot to his torso but a hole opened up in Luigi's chest for Roy's hand to go through, a hole which closed as the bully Koopa pulled his arm back. "WHAT THE HECK?" he shouted. Then Roy then went for a low shot, raising his knee up between Luigi's legs, but again Luigi was one step ahead of him. His legs extended so Roy's target area was higher than the Koopa's leg could reached, Roy lost his balance and fell backwards onto his shell. Luigi's legs shrank back down as Roy fell.

"Stop moving you pest!" he said as he quickly rose back onto his feet and tried several unsuccessful attempts at grabbing the long coated man "Come here, you're butts mine!"

"Sorry to disappoint you Glitter boy!" Luigi grinned manically at Roy's enraged face as he avoided every single attack "But my bread isn't buttered that side!"

Wendy and Morton watched this strange event from a little ways away, and they were just gobsmacked at all of this. Wendy was so astonished she dropped her makeup bag. _Makeup bag? _This gave Luigi an idea.

He held up his hand and Roy stopped his barrage of attacks for a second panting for breath "Whoa, whoa, timeout!" Luigi said making a T with both his hands. "Wait right here! Don't move."

Quick as a flash Luigi shot back towards Wendy and Morton, and scooped up Wendy's make up bag and headed straight back for Roy.

"Hey, that's my make up you green faced freak!" Wendy called after him. In an instant Luigi fired himself back towards her for a quick one liner, he stopped just a meter away, pointed and said in astonishment "Oh my god!" his eyes grew wide "It's Amy Winehouse!" Then he grinned at the clueless look on Wendy's face.

Back on track Luigi returned to the exhausted Roy and a swirl of wind enveloped both him and the masked Luigi. A few moments later the wind vanished revealing Luigi standing besides Roy in a pose like he was unveiling a masterpiece.

Luigi had thickly applied makeup to Roy's face, which was as white as a sheet with thick red lipstick on his lips. His nails were long and painted red and he had also been dressed in a long, pink frock.

"Now you're ready for a night on the town!" Luigi said and held out a handheld mirror for Roy to view himself, and the large Koopa just froze like he wanted to scream out loud. "A regular Dragon Drag Queen!" Luigi quipped as he threw the mirror over his head, reached into his jacket pocket and produced a picture camera and pointed it straight at Roy "HOLD THAT POSE!" Luigi said and with a flash he snapped a picture of Roy in that ridicules outfit. "Hehe, this one's for the fridge!"

Stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp! Went Wendy's feet as she came towards both Luigi and the shocked Roy -for such a short Koopa she must weigh a tone to make such a noise while walking- she looked furious. "How day you waste my beauty make up on Roy, no amount of mascara can hide his train wreck of a face!" she shouted.

In that instant Luigi decided to switch targets, he raced over to Wendy and said. "This coming from someone who's face could launch a thousand ships... the other way! If Moses had seen your face there would've been another commandment!"

She came uncomfortably close, threateningly close and opened her mouth to say something, and a rancid smell assaulted Luigi's nose hairs. He clamped his hand over her mouth, used his free hand to close his own nostrils and said in a blocked nose voice "Wow, oh wow! I think I found where they hid Jimmy Hoffa!" Wendy must've been really PO'ed at this because Luigi suddenly found the hand he had clamped over Wendy's mouth suddenly inside her mouth, she'd bit him! Oddly Luigi didn't panic at this, instead he stood there as cool as a cucumber and said in the voice of a fashion consultant "Oh look Koopa Cufflinks, the most trendy fashion accessory..." he reached into his coat pocket "and so easy to remove."

From his pocket he produced a silver revolver and pointed it straight at Wendy's head. "Go ahead, make my day!" he added as he pulled back on the hammer, and tugged on the trigger. Wendy screamed wide eyed, released Luigi's arm and ducked down out of the way just in time before the gun went off. A short, thin pole extended out with a little flag on it that said 'Day Made!'

"GOTCHA!" Luigi screeched and chuckled spinning the joke gun on his trigger finger before pushing it into his trouser pockets. In that instant Wendy rose up, opened her mouth wide and tried to bite him again, but staggered back when as if by magic Wendy found a car jack wedging her mouth open, placed there by Luigi himself.

Luigi grinned manically, almost creepily at this and couldn't resist taking off his hat and sticking his head in her mouth like the lion tamer sticking his head in a tamed lion. From inside her mouth he called out "You know gingivitis is the main cause of tooth decay."

Satisfied the masked plumber pulled his head out and slotted his hat back onto his head. Wendy, after fighting to close her mouth, suddenly snapped it shut as the car jack vanished into thin air.

Two down one to go! Then finally he rounded on Morton Koopa. "Now for you 'Moron Bigmouth'!" he said.

"It's Morton! and whoa, whoa, I haven't done anything to you!" Morton said stepping away from Luigi.

"Nah, nah pal!" Luigi said rushing over to him and slipping his arm around him like they were old friends "I just want you to help me understand something. You are one of the Koopalings right?"

"Yeah" Morton replied.

"So you were all born from Bowser?" Luigi continued.

"Yes"

"Were you all born from the same mother?" Luigi then asked.

"Of course we were!" Morton said

"Really? How come you're brown and the others are all orange?" Luigi gestured to the colour of his scales, which were different from any other Koopa and Koopaling. "I mean you're as butt ugly as all the rest but I can't understand why you're so different from the others, you're a mystery. Old Bowser must've played the field that dirty lizard." Luigi paused as another idea came into his head "or were you adopted?"

"Adopted? I wasn't adopted!" Morton cried.

"Think so? Think about it, one" he began counting on his fingers "who'd want to father any more kids from that bull Bowser? And two, who'd want to father any more kids from that bull Bowser?" Luigi paused, "Actually that's only one reason but I think it's such a good one it's worth saying twice!" Then he pushed himself away and leaned comfortably against a wall.

"Why you, you, you..." Morton fumed stumbling for a word "...what the heck are you?"

"Names Opted" the Masked plumber said sticking a lollypop in is mouth and moved it around his mouth with his tongue like a cigarette "first name's Eyem'add" Luigi said grinning waiting for it.

"That's a weird name!" Morton said in triumph as if this topped Luigi's own quips "That's the weird of weird names, 'Eyem'add Opted?'"

"He said it! Ahahahaha!" Luigi threw his head back and laughed, what made this even more humours to Luigi was the clueless look on the Koopas face, because though he said 'Eyem'add Opted' what came out of his mouth was 'I'm Adopted'. "AHAHAHAA!"

* * *

><p>The silver slither snaked along the rough stones in the floor, going up gradients and avoiding grooves as if it really was alive. When someone walked past it, it stood perfectly still and allowed the Koopa's and Goomba's to walk straight over it, and it rippled like any other puddle when this happened. But when the coast was clear, it collected itself together again and snaked away again looking for the thing it recognised.<p>

This weird creature had no consciousness as such, it was aware, it could think, but it's thought processes were very simple, it also had no memory, it could see the same object twice within seconds and not realise it had seen it before. But it did have something programmed into it. Somehow it knew what it had to do. It needed a vessel to exist inside, it needed a place to grow and thrive, like all parasites it needed a host.

It had searched high and low for a suitable host, one that it could occupy but all potential hosts it had found were unsuitable for its purpose, all except for one, that odd masked humanoid creature it had sensed earlier appeared ideal, why he was ideal it had no idea only that he was ideal.

It found its ideal host in a large hall with three others, they were lizard like creatures and the green faced human appeared to be mocking them. The biggest one wearing black sun glasses was ripping a pink garment from his torso and rubbed white and red stuff from off his face. The female lizard creature was rubbing her jaws as if they were sore and the short, grey one looked clueless. But it was clear all three of them didn't like the man leaning against a stone wall with a hat pushed down over his eyes.

"Hey, wait a minute!" the big, pink lizard suddenly said as he wiped the last of the white stuff off his face "If you're adopted that means you're not a real Koopaling, and you're not a true heir to King Pap's throne!"

"I'm not adopted!" the brown one said stamping his foot.

"You don't look a thing like us you short stuffed, big mouth!" the pink one said again.

"I'm as much a Koopaling as any of you and..." the brown one began to say.

"Will both of you shut up!" the female shouted "I doesn't matter who's adopted, I'm going to get the throne from King Papa. I'm the most mature, and if he doesn't give it to me I'll scream!"

The three lizards began bickering with each other, and as they did the masked man in dark blue and purple sneaked around them, quickly scooped up a large collection of coins in his hands from the floor and stuffed them into his pockets, which should've been far too small to hold them all.

He was about to walk off again, but stopped. After a few moments he reached into his inside coat pocket and produced a small card he left in the coin's place. It read 'Thank you for your generous donation, be assured you have made a large number of Toadtots very happy.'

Grinning a cartoonishly, white toothed grin the masked man suddenly sent himself to a wild spin and sped straight towards the silver slither at the door, the lizards didn't even notice him go. The slither was far too slow to catch this masked man, as he practically ran straight through it cutting it in half and sped off whirling down the corridor.

Slowly the small silver droplets began collecting back together into a large puddle that compressed into a long slither again. It could sense its target getting further and further away far too fast for it to possibly catch it. Though it had no thought processes it knew either it needed to catch this host or find a new one.

As it sat there just outside this large pair of doors it suddenly found it. It could sense another potential host, this one was much slower and easier to catch, it could somehow tell this one was not as ideal as the masked one but it was satisfactory.

Collecting itself together it snaked away, hunting its new prey.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes: <strong>A short chapter more to introduce a brand new villain character, you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out what the Silver Slither develops into.

I said at the beginning of this fan fiction that I'm thinking of doing something special with it. Well if you go to my youtube channel -you can find it on my profile- you'll find out what I'm planning to do with it. ;)

***Updated* (23/12/11): **Removed a small section of text that has been bothering me for a while because I just felt it held the story up too much and wasn't relevent.

Again all reviews are welcome

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox


	8. Got everyone seeing Red, or Green?

**Chapter 7**

**Got everyone seeing Red, or Green?**

Oh those guys were a million laughs to irritate. The Koopalings always did have short fuses and after nearly a lifetime of fighting them Luigi somehow knew how to push their buttons. They were far too easy for someone with his new talent for trouble making, he needed a real challenge! Someone who he could really have fun with, someone like 'Bozo' when he finds him. Oh no, wait he was supposed to be looking for Bowsers safe first, that was the whole point in coming here after all.

Luigi shrugged and scratched his head. Where would a 2D character like Bowser hide a safe? He could somehow sense it was close. He didn't even know for sure that Bowser even had a safe, yet he could somehow sense it, and sense it was close.

Casually the masked Luigi entered a nearby room. No sign of a safe, just a massive room with a large bed for a large lizard, he assumed this was Bowsers bedroom. There was a desk with many objects, one of which looked like a nail file,_ Bowser does his own nails? There's a laugh!_ Also in the room was a massive picture of the aforementioned Koopa King. How much does someone have to love himself to have a massive picture of himself in his own bedroom room and in all the halls in his castle?

Safe, safe, safe, where was the safe? Come on, Bowser was typical and predictable and let's face it he has more teeth then brain cells so it must be somewhere obvious.

He took another look at that giant picture of Bowser, it did nothing for the room, if anything it detracted from its dank and darkness, so he decided in the interests of balance he was going to get rid of it.

Placing his hands under the frame he lifted it off its hook and just tossed it out of the nearest window, a window that Luigi realised served two purposes, the first to look out of, the second... well let's just say Luigi had not come across any toilet facilities on his roaming through the castle. The picture of Bowser of course then landed right in a pile of Bowser Business and upon reflection Luigi decided he'd accidentally found the perfect place for the picture, because now it was art, it said everything that needed to be said about Bowser.

Removing the picture had also revealed something to Luigi, behind that giant picture sat a massive, grey, steel safe! So that's where a 2D character like Boso Bowser kept his secret safe, in a place that wasn't really so secret. All the signs were there, finger print marks on the frame, the fact that the picture hung slightly crooked, oh and the plaque screwed onto the lower part of the picture frame had read 'I'm warning you Roy, don't you dare try to steal from my Secret Safe again!' with a helpful arrow pointing towards the picture, that was a big give away. What an idiot!

Luigi knocked on the steel safe four times. It felt solid. Thinking for a moment he realised he could either A, Bash at it until he opens it, or B try to crack the combination on the safe. B sounded more like his style, like a ninja in the night he'd use stealth and timing to thwart his enemies, gain entrance to the safe and be gone before the enemy knew he was there. But then again this wasn't exactly Luigi anymore, so option A it was, 'Bash at it until it opens'.

Luigi reached into his long coat pocket and pulled from it a massive looking jackhammer, one that shouldn't have been able to fit in his pockets at all. Wow he loved this mask! He placed the tip of it on the hinges of the safe and activated it. It vibrated madly and produced the mother of all rackets but he didn't care, the hinges were slowly being forced off and soon Luigi would have the money for those stupid little brats at the orphanage.

* * *

><p>King Bowser Koopa proudly stomped down the corridor, his evil brain tying to hatch another new scheme to capture Peach. General Karnage had clearly failed his idea, Bowser should've known better to trust the judgement of any Koopa who was not King, or basically anyone who was not himself.<p>

As Bowser stomped down the corridor he suddenly heard something from a large pair of doors. What was going on back there, what's with all the shouting?

"What's with that mark on your face?" that was Roy's voice.

"It's a birthmark!" said Morton

"None of us don't have anything like that on our faces!" Roy was saying.

"That's because it's a birthmark, you can't inherit a birthmark!" Morton cried back.

Bowser decided it was time to step into this. He pushed open the door and shouted "WHAT'S ALL THIS RACKET, I CAN BARELY HEAR MYSELF THINK!" He stomped over to Morton and Roy and pushed them apart. "BREAK IT UP, BREAK IT UP!"

"Roy started it King Dad!" Morton cried.

"Un uh, he did!" Roy shouted back.

"They both started it!" Wendy screeched. Wendy was in here? Bowser realised dreading the threat she often made to scream when she doesn't get her own way.

"Hey, where did Green Face go?" Morton said looking around the room.

"Green Face?" Bowser echoed, was this some new game they were playing?

"King Dad" Morton continued and Bowser half sighed at having to listen to Morton's motor mouth "someone in a freaky, rubber, green face came in and..." Thankfully he was interrupted by Roy. "Hey! Where are all my coins gone?"

"What coins?" Bowser asked suspiciously "You haven't been stealing from my personal stash have you?"

"No Kind Dad! It's the money my Koopa Bullies make from bullying unsuspecting Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom... and Green Face stole them!"

"Who cares about your coins?" Wendy shouted "He stole my makeup bag and wasted it on your ugly face!"

"Whoa, whoa wait!" Bowser shouted for silence "Someone came in here and stole from you all?" the look on their faces said it all "Baw! I hate people who steal from little kids!" he cried before adding "I don't mind people stealing from other kids obviously but when it's my kids that's something different." The Koopa King allowed himself a few seconds to cool down.

He spotted a button used to sound the alarm and put the entire castle on high alert. He wanted to use it to take Mario by surprise the next time he breaks in looking for the princess, but this was as good a time as any to use it. "We gotta have an intruder, someone hit the alarm!"

What happened next after those words had left his lips Bowser would never have believed had he not witnessed it. A whirling tornado suddenly blasted into the room kicking up gusts of wind and dirt and flinging the dust and dirt all over the place. Bowser had to cover his eyes to protect himself and he watched as the twisting tornado form came to a sudden halt near the alarm button revealing the person spinning around in its centre.

It was a man in a green, rubber mask, his eyes were wide and cartoonish, his mouth looked like it was filled with piano keys because his teeth were so large and white. He wore dark, old fashioned type clothes and appeared to be hauling a massive canvas bag on his back.

The man heaved the bag off for a second, dropped it on the floor and produced from his pocket a large, long mallet. He drew his arm back "Hit the alarm?" he asked again "Hey, you're the boss!"and with one massive swing the hammer smashed into the alarm button, there was a massive flash and a loud bang which left the alarm switch on the floor in a million tiny pieces. There were no klaxons, no flashing lights, nothing to indicate the alarm had been triggered at all, he'd busted it!

"Whoops" the green man said looking at the mallet in his hand. Quickly he tried to hide it behind his back, which was not easy because the large hammer head made it taller than he was, he looked away from what he'd done and somehow managed to look innocent but in a mischievous way and simply said "It wasn't me!"

Who was this guy? Was he part of his army? He didn't recognise him. Bowser however did recognise that canvas bag the guy had been carrying with him.

"Hey! That's my secret coin stash, what are you doing with it?" Bowser fumed.

"Oh don't worry" the green faced man said, his voice was distorted like he wasn't even human "We'll send you a thank you letter for your donation later." His eyes were wide, alert and looked very creepy and the way he moved and said everything made him look like someone who was hyperactive. "In the meantime feel free to share Glitter Boy Roys" and he smiled showing his two rows of keyboard teeth.

Roy stamped his foot on the ground "I hate that name!" he shouted and the little Koopa moved to attack the green guy but Bowser held him back. Like farther like son he decided, but he had a beef to settle with this guy first.

"No one steals my hidden stash and gets away with it!" he snarled. Bowser drew a very deep breath and held it and when he breathed out a giant fireball erupted from his mouth and fired straight at the green guy, who didn't move to avoid it or stop it, instead he screamed like a girl.

The fireball hit him and burst into a black vapour instantly cooking whatever was in its way. The giant black cloud slowly faded out and... WHAT? He was still alive! He was, and somehow the green faced guy had changed his clothes, he was now in the white suit and floppy hat of a chef, he held in both his hands a long stick with rows of burnt hotdogs on them. Still grinning, the front of him covered in soot he said "Nice! But a little overdone."

"What the heck!" Bowser's jaw dropped open, his most powerful attack had hit the guy head on and failed to even phase him! So he tried another tactic, fire another fire ball at him it was obvious. So he breathed in deeply and fired another fireball at the green faced guy. This time though the green guy did something Bowser did not see coming. Suddenly the green human's legs extended and became longer very rapidly. He bowed his legs so the fireball went straight between them.

Still not deterred Bowser fired another fire ball at him as the human's legs began to shrink back down. "OLAY" the human called as he side stepped now dressed in the garb of a bull fighter holding out a red cloth for the fireball to impact, and it did, but the red cloth burst into flames and turned to dust. _Wait a minute isn't that red cloth his bedroom curtains?_ Bowser wondered.

How the heck was he doing all this stuff? How the heck could he change his clothes so fast, how the heck could he survive his fireball attacks, what the heck was going on? "Give me back my hidden stash now!" Bowser shouted again and he fired out another fireball out towards him again.

Instantly the human changed clothes again, now wearing a long brown coat, sun glasses with a necktie tired around his head. He held an unlit cigarette in his hand and said "Hey buddy, got a light?" he sidestepped the fireball, dipped his cigarette into the flaming ball which set it alight. He stuck it in his mouth and took a deep puff on it as the fireball hit the back wall. "SSSSSmokin'" he grinned blowing out a cloud of smoke.

This guy was messing with him Bowsers realised, his fuse was now getting very, very short. Bending his knees he leapt up high into the air and came crashing back down in front of the green faced human, Bowser's large form kicked up a lot of dust and cracked the floor as he landed.

"How nice of you to drop in" the green guy quipped, he wasn't even scared! Bowser wasn't used to people not running in terror from him like that he didn't know what to say. So instead he drew a large breath and prepared to fire a close range fireball at him, surely this would kill him.

The green guy flicked his cigarette away, sent himself spinning into a tornado form and emerged dressed in a completely new garb. The red hat and uniform of a fire fighter, and had somehow produced the fireman's hose which was pathetically short and wasn't even connected up to anything.

"Fire in THE HOLE!" he cried as Bowser opened his mouth wide to produce the largest fireball he could, but was caught by surprise when the hose the guy was holding suddenly as if by magic produced a jet of water that fired up into the back of his mouth, the force was so great it lifted the heavy Koopa King off his feet and firing him backwards at the speed of sound into the wall at the far end of the room!

Bowser groaned when he impacted the stonework creating a sizable dent in the wall and after a few seconds the water raining on him was turned off and he heard the green man say "... and you are certainly 'A HOLE' aren't you!" and he laughed like a gremlin.

Bowser slowly fell off the wall and settled on his back more confused than ever.

"What the heck are you? What do you want?" Bowser asked a little shaken up as he rubbed his head and slowly got back onto his feet.

"Oh, I'm just doing my bit for charity" the green guy said now back in his original blue coated garb. He raced over to the sack containing Bowsers coins and lifted it up over his head and onto his shoulders "...and like all charities I'm robbing you blind!" and the guy swung the bag and himself around so he became a whirling twister again and fired himself forward towards the exit.

Bowser wasn't going to let this guy get away with robbing him blind so he leapt up high again and landed in front of the exit blocking the green criminals path, but the twister kept coming. Bowser guessed the green guy was going to try to leap up over his head so he raised his arms ready to grab him, but the twister man didn't jump over his head at all, instead he'd leaned right back and slid right between Bowsers legs!

Bowser didn't have time to get annoyed because he suddenly felt a pain between his buttocks and he the felt someone climbing up his shell, the further he went up the tighter the pain between his buttocks became. The shell climber leapt over his head and he should've guessed it was the green guy, yet he was trailing a dirty grey material with him that he was holding onto tightly. When the man landed back onto the floor Bowser opened his mouth to produce another fireball, but when the green guy let go of the grey material he was holding onto it snapped back under Bowser's chin snapping his jaws shut and craning his head back.

It took Bowser a second or two to realise that this guy had just given him, Bowser, King of the Koopa's... a wedgie! All Bowser could see was the contents of his own underwear.

"Hey, I said I would 'rob you blind' and I have!" The green guy chuckled darkly "Get it?" Actually Bowser didn't "Hey, so it's a stretch sue me. Stretch! Get it! AHAHAHAHA!"

In the next moment Bowser heard him zoom off and the doors slammed shut behind him, the green faced freak had gone and with his coin stash! If he wasn't gagged by his own filthy underpants he would've screamed!

* * *

><p>Luigi could not believe he'd just given Bowser a wedgie. Bowser, the King of all the Koopa's, the most evil creature in the land feared by many, and he'd just given him a wedgie!<p>

Luigi could do nothing but laugh as he slipped past the massive lizard, exited the room and slammed the doors shut behind him. A couple of brackets suddenly grew from nowhere on either side of the door, getting the idea Luigi produced a long and sturdy looking plank of wood from his sleeve and slammed it into the brackets, keeping the two doors firmly shut.

Satisfied with this venture Luigi picked up the sack, swung it into his back and turned to leave the castle but he stopped dead when he came face to face with something that made him say "Oh crap"

In front of him was a large army of Koopa's, Hammer brothers, Goombas, practically the entire Koopa army was here! All lead by that larger, one eyed Koopa in the eye patch with thick eyebrows you could use to re-bristle brooms.

"Hold it right there!" the one eyed koopa commanded.

"That's what I am doing" Luigi answered holding the bag on his back.

"Get your hands, you're our prisoner!" he said.

Something funny tickled the back of Luigi's mind. He should just fire himself straight past them, it wasn't as if they could stop him, nobody could stop him and he couldn't even stop himself because he'd had an idea that was much more fun.

Luigi dropped the sack of coins to the floor and pushed his hands into his pockets. "Realllly? You wanna bet?" he said he withdrew his left hand which appeared to be holding something he was twirling between his fingers "LETS DANCE!" he declared and he flicked the object from his fingers at the Koopa army, it was a single gold coin. It soared over the Koopa's heads, they all watched it fearing it was some sort of weapon but it did nothing, they followed it until they saw where it landed, it chose to land in the coin slot of a music box that had just conveniently decided to materialise in just the right place to catch it.

'_It's show time!'_ a voice in Luigi's head said.

* * *

><p>Karnage watched that green faced man flick the coin over their heads, Karange expected a bomb or a grenade or something but it was nothing of the sort. It did nothing but fall into a music box, but that boxwasn't there a few moments ago. Karnage didn't know who this rubber faced man who could open beer bottles with his overbite was, but clearly he was trouble.<p>

There was loud flashy type noise that sounded like musical trumpets been blown, it only sounded for a few seconds and was quickly gone. What the? It sounded like some kind of soundtrack had been started from the music box when the coin landed in it, it was fast passed and had a very catchy beat he had to admit but what the heck was going on? This was no kind of attack or tactic Karnage was aware of.

The green guy bent his knees and sank a little lower and screamed "Aow!"

The green man extended his left leg while balancing on his right and walked a little towards the Koopa's very smoothly and coolly still grinning like a maniac. He pushed his hat further down over the front of his face hiding his eyes in shadow. He then wrapped one leg over the other and sent himself into a mad spin for a few seconds, when he emerged he had changed his clothes, he was now wearing a crisp white suit with black pinstripes, a blue shirt and white tie, and was topped off with a white trilby with a black band. The only things that hadn't changed were his footwear, a pair of black dance shoes and his face which was stilled caked in a green, rubber mask.

What made this situation even more awkward was that the green guy not only danced like he was in some kind of night club he also started to sing.

"As he came into the window

It was the sound of a crescendo

He Came Into Her Apartment

He Left The Bloodstains On The Carpet

She Ran Underneath The Table

You Could See She Was Unable

So She Ran Into The Bedroom

She Was Struck Down, It Was Her Doom"

He kicked out his left foot and stood here for a few seconds before slowly and smoothly walking towards them kicking his feet out fully like an expert dancer. He swung himself around so he was facing away from the Koopa army. Black smoke suddenly formed around him and four identical creatures materialized, they were like the green guy except jet black, like 'cosmic clones' things –creatures that were supposed to copy the moves of their target- and as they materialized the black mist vanished. Together with the green guy they all started dancing.

"Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK"

The green guy spun around to face the Koopa army, flung out his arms then brought them back in and pressed them to his abdomen nodding his head backwards and forwards, his jet, black clones copied the move perfectly in sync with him. In fact any move he made they copied like they really were cosmic clones and every movement the original made was so smooth and expertly executed like this guy was an expert dancer.

"Are You OK, Annie

Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK

Are You OK, Annie

Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK?"

The green faced man danced slowly towards a particular area a little to the right, one that had a small platform that had become erected, wait that wasn't there a few seconds ago! It was a foot tall and had a microphone stand on it.

"Are You OK, Annie?

Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You Ok, Are You Ok, Annie?"

The green faced man climbed the small podium, spun around on the heel of his shoes and grabbed the microphone stand when he stopped and pulled the microphone towards his mouth and started singing again. His four clone counterparts started dancing around him.

"Annie Are You OK?

Will You Tell Us That You're OK?"

The guy then pushed his hat down over his eyes. Karnage was so mesmerized by this unusual spectacle he didn't even know what to do. There was no tactic or plan he had in his vast war experience for dealing with rogue dancers.

"There's A Sign In The Window

That He Struck You - A Crescendo Annie

He Came Into Your Apartment

He Left The Bloodstains On The Carpet"

The green guy spun around again on his heels, when he stopped he reached out and grabbed the microphone stand again just below the microphone and continued to sing.

"Then You Ran Into The Bedroom

You Were Struck Down

It Was Your Doom"

Standing in profile the green guy then started to walk, or give the illusion of walking because he was actually not moving, forwards nor backwards yet the way he moved his legs gave the impression he was walking on a treadmill that wasn't there.

"Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK?

Are You OK Annie?

Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK?

Are You OK Annie?

Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK?

Are You OK Annie? "

Karnage looked around at his Koopa's, they were all so mesmerized by this as well they had all forgotten they were a disciplined, trained army of conquerors. In fact no scratch that it was easy for them to get distracted, they were originally trained by Bowser after all.

"Snap out of it!" Karnage shouted at them "We're here to capture this loony not watch Strictly Come Dancing! WHAA!" Karnage screamed when the green man skidded across the floor on his tap shoes and roughly kicked the thick eyebrow Koopa across the floor taking his place at the head of the army. Landing on the back of his shell and again struggled to get back up. Then he heard the green guy sing.

"You've Been Hit By

You've Been Hit By

'**A Smooth Criminal'"**

All of his Koopa's, Karnages' Koopas suddenly all jumped up in a Mexican wave rolling from left to right across them and when they landed they all began to mimic the green guys dance moves. He swung his arms around his torso, then tucked his head under his left arm, pushing his hat back a little and flinging out his right arm before straightening up and crossing his arms. Then he turned to his right, placed his right hand on the top of his hat, then ducked his head down and quickly brought it back up. It was a stupid looking dance move yet somehow it fitted but what was humiliating to Karnage was that his battle ready Koopa's were dancing around like an act from 'Toad Towns got Talent.'

The green guy straightened up and spun on his heels once, came to a stop and screamed "Aaow!" in a much softer voice.

* * *

><p>Bowser was not happy as he struggled to remove his underwear from his head but the more he tried the more uncomfortable it became because it kept rising up… the area where it hurt. In the end he was so annoyed with it he simply ripped them to shreds.<p>

The kids were arguing again about something or other Bowser wasn't really listening, though he was their father he felt his kids could sort their problems out themselves. Plus discipline was a good thing in this instance and Bowser did not 'do' good.

He pushed Morton out of his way only because he 'was' in the way and stamped over to the large pair of doors behind him where the green guy had vanished. He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked and his long tails threatened to draw blood from his palms.

"NO ONE WEDGIES KING BOWSER KOOPA AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" he snarled. He placed his left hand on the door and drew back his right fist and prepared to bash the door down. He paused for a moment and turned to his three kids who were witnessing this act. "Kids, stand back and don't try this at home." He drew his arm back a little further "but you can try it in someone else's, haw, haw!" and thrust his powerful fist forward. The doors burst open with one punch, whatever was blocking the door suddenly broke apart and littered the floor as Bowser stepped over it into the main hall. Then suddenly something fell on Bowser's thick skull and made him collapse to the floor with the mother of all headaches. Whatever landed on his head gave a loud "UUUURRRHHH" as it slammed down. It took him a while to realise he'd just been hit in the head by his own Thwamp security system! What was it doing here anyway, he didn't leave it here.

As he stood back up again he reasoned he must be delirious or concussed, the amount of times Mario had landed on his head he knew the feeling well, though he was sure he didn't have it but he must be concussed because what he was witnessing was more strange then flying wooden boats with propellers on their masts, oh no wait those were real, those were his doom ships.

What he was witnessing were a large number of Koopa's, Hammer Brothers and Goomba's, they were all dressed in black suits and hats which contrasted with the green guy's white suit and hat, Bowser didn't understand the reference. Why was he dressed like Colonel Sanders and since when did Colonel Sanders dance? In fact why were his Koopa's, Goomba's and co all dancing with this green guy?

"Annie Are You OK?

So, Annie Are You OK?

Are You OK Annie?

You've Been Hit By. You've Been Struck By

A Smooth Criminal'"

Bowser's mouth dropped and his shoulders drooped in disbelief, his eyes also went wide with astonishment as he watched his mighty Koopa army dancing with this guy dressed like Colonel Sanders to this music by Queen.

"Aaow!" the green guy issued and thrust his left hand into the air extending his fore and little fingers into the air while he used his other hand to push his hat forward over his eyes.

The music suddenly stopped and the Koopa's and Goomba's behind him were suddenly blasted back off their feet as if by an invisible force and rolled onto their backs.

The green guy adjusted his white hat and his head and slowly his clothes morphed back from the white suit into his usual long, blue, frock coat and stuff. He then stabbed a thumb over his left shoulder, grinned manically and said "They also do birthdays, funerals and bar-mitzvahs!"

Bowser's bewilderment soon turned to red hot anger. How dare he rob him blind with the intent of giving to charity, that was a charities job, how dare he take control of his army of Koopa's, this was an empire not a dance class! How dare he give King Bowser a wedgie! He still felt sore from it.

Bowser leaned forward, bent his legs and charged at the masked man with the intent of running him over but the green guy didn't move, didn't try to dodge or anything like that. Instead at the very last minute he held out his hand palm facing him for Bowser to stop. Bowser was so bewildered by this odd form of defence he put his breaks on and came to a complete stop just in front of the green guy, just in case this was a very clever form of attack if he did try to run him down.

The green, masked man then clicked his fingers in front of Bowsers face and point directly upwards. Bowser tilted his head to one side curiously and looked up just in time to see the underside of another Thwamp about to land right on top of him. "OH SHI…." He never got to finish that sentence as the Thwamp smashed into his head knocking him back to the floor for a second time.

Bowser heard the green guy suck air through his freakishly large teeth before saying "Ouch! Nasty, I'd recommend ibuprofen for that." All Bowser could do to reply was groan a little as the thwamp rose back up into the ceiling again.

"You look awful" Greenie observed "if you get another one of these on the head you might get permanent brain damage…" his voice suddenly became more sinister and his eyes began to glow slightly red, Bowser had to admit he was slightly jealous of it "but what the hell it's only you!" and yet again the Thwamp came straight back down on his head.

Taking a few steps back Greenie suddenly snapped his fingers and a light bulb suddenly appeared above his head and glowed brightly as if he'd had an idea. "I know what to call myself!" he said as he raised his hat from his head and turned to face and address everyone in the hall, Koopa's, Goomba's, Koopa King's and Koopalings alike. "Gentlemen, Ladies…" he bowed, but grinned broadly as he rose up again "though I use the term loosely with Wendy." He flicked out his left hand which held his hat, the hat rebounded and flipped back towards him, it flipped in the air and landed back on his head. "…today will be the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught…" he pushed his hat forward so it cast a shadow over his eyes and grinned his freakishly, toothy grin "…the _Green Thunder_"

With an almighty bang the _Green Thunder_ was gone and in his place was a whirling green tornado that zoomed down the hall and out of sight. Bowser tried to get back to his feet, his head aching like he had seven hundred cannon's going off every second in his head. That number then doubled when that very same thwamp slammed down again on his head, this happened several other times before Bowser had enough sense knocked into him to roll over out of the thwamps way, though this was done more subconsciously rather than as an act of intelligence.

* * *

><p>The creature that flowed like quick silver moved through the castle undetected. Who would question a small puddle on the floor after all or suspect it of being up to no good. But it was time to throw away the inconspicuous guise because it had found what it needed, a host.<p>

Limping along was a turtle like creature it now knew were called Koopa's flanked by three others. They all limped because they were injured and exhausted, some had bandages over their arms and legs, another had a Zimmer frame, this was his target.

The creature flattened itself and waited as the small gang of Koopa's passed.

"I can't believe we've gotta listen to Wendy sing" one of them complained.

"Anyone got any cheese?" another with a bandaged eye asked

"Why? Are you hungry. What kind do you want?" the Koopa with a broken arm asked.

"Doesn't matter, it's for my ears." The one eyed Koopa said.

"What about Swiss? It's thick stuff" broken arm said.

"Will you two stop being so stupid" one Koopa the leader of the pack said "Swiss cheese is full of holes, we'd still hear her."

"I heard the last person to listen to her sing almost went mad." Said the last Koopa with a broken leg. "She asked him 'Do you think the acoustics are bad in here?' and he replied 'yes I'd say they're pretty bad, I can still hear you.'"

"That's one brave Koopa" the one eyed one said.

"He's a dead one" broken leg.

"I've come prepared" one eye said and produce a pair of black rimmed glasses, only they weren't real, the lenses were just blotted out and painted in such a way that it looked like the eyes were open when they weren't. "With cheese in my ears and these on my face I plan to sleep through it."

"She's not performing until an hour from now, right Alpha?" Zimmer asked.

"Enough with the names now" Alpha said "They were only code names while we were in the field. And no not for another two hours."

Zimmer sighed "I'm not going to survive it, I'm going to go to bed and sleep, wake me when it's time for our execution." And Zimmer broke away and limped over to a specific room, opened the door and went inside, the other Koopa's continued to talk as they limped further down the hall to wherever they were going.

Seeing its chance the liquid creature easily seeped under the wooden door with ease and emerged on the other side. The room was pretty bare, and dark and Zimmer had collapsed onto the bed without getting under the covers and was already snoring asleep.

The liquid creature oozed its way towards the edge of the bed and slivered up the bed post and slid along the length of the bed towards its victim. But then the Koopa began to stir and through instinct the creature threw itself onto the floor and pretended to be a puddle again. The Koopa rolled onto its back and its mouth fell wide open.

Slowly the liquid creature had a new tactic. It slid up the side of the rough stone walls and clung to the ceiling like glue as it slivered along it like it was the floor. It positioned itself just above its intended target who's mouth still hung wide open. The Koopa was sufficiently weakened and with it unconscious it put up no fight as the creature dropped from the ceiling and dived directly down the Koopa's gullet.

The injured Koopa' body convulsed and it flew wide awake as this creature wormed its way completely down into his system. All the Koopa could do was claw at bed sheets and gasp for what breath he could get. But then he closed his eyes again for the very last time and remained motionless. He was dead.

For a few moments it looked like the body remained still, but barely a minute later however the body stirred. It's left arm twitched, once, twice, it's fingers began to curl up, then the bodies eyes swung wide open and his dead pupils brought his eyes into focus. The body's chest rose and then fell as it took its first breath, as it breathed out a long vapour stream was blown out. The room had grown cold.

'_I can feel'_ the creature inside it realized '_I feel… cold!_' after a couple of breathes. Despite the room being no warmer no more vapour escaped its newly acquired lungs. It tried to move but failed to do that as it had not worked out how to use these yet, but it felt the pain of broken limbs and numb limbs. '_I feel pain!'_ it realized and blinked a few times, it had sufficient control of the mouth to say just one word through the pain and the tingling numbness. "Wonderful."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong>

Wow, I've managed to get this one out just before Christmas :D

Though I've made Luigi/Mask say that charities rob you blind I don't believe every charity is like that. But sometimes I wonder if the money I give is actually going to help the people it's supposed to or go's to pay for the biscuits at the charities next meeting to decide what to do with the money. :S

The name Luigi's Mask has given himself is the alternative name of his other alter ego Mr. L from the paper Mario series. I think the Green Thunder is either a nickname or a super hero name Luigi wanted to use but never could because he is always disadvantaged by his clumsiness, but now that he has the Mask he has a reason to use the name at long last. :D

The song Smooth Criminal was originally preformed by Michael Jackson, no copyright infringement was intended and the lyrics were only used in humour, and no it wasn't a mistake when I made Bowser think Luigi was dressed as Colonel Sanders and danced to music by Queen, it was a deliberate mistake.

Karnage mentions Strictly Come Dancing, which is a realty TV show here in the UK -don't know if they have it anywhere else- which I admit I've never watched so all I know is it's got something to do with people dancing.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the new chapter

All reviews are welcome

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox


	9. Loki the Mischeif Maker

**Chapter 8**

**Loki the Mischief Maker**

'The Green Thunder', Luigi liked it! He'd always wanted to use that name when he became a wider known super hero but because Luigi was mostly held back by Mario's own reputation he never had a chance to use it.

It had taken him a while but he'd finally come to the conclusion that this was not a dream at all. Everything he was doing, everything he remembered, it was all real, he was living his dream and it was all thanks to this funny wooden mask, he never wanted to take it off, he wanted to keep it on forever and remain as the Green Thunder.

Unfortunately Luigi knew or guessed that the Mask must only work at night, which explains why it didn't work earlier in the day when he tried to put it on. But this limitation meant he could be like Batman. By day he was lanky, weak, Luigi, by night he was the charismatic, charming, smooth, Green Thunder, okay forget the charming part, Green Thunder was loud and in your face and he liked it!

He'd zoomed outside the castle whirling around in his twister form and was halfway across the Dark Kingdom before he knew it. He still had the bag of coins secure on his back, the coins he'd just stole from Bowser for the orphanage and so you could guess his destination and soon he arrived there.

Luigi vaulted the roof of the small mushroom shaped house and landed on top of it. He then took the heavy sack and slammed it into the mouth of the chimney. "Santa's come early!" Luigi cried as, from his deep pockets, he produced a plunger and pumping hard he pushed the coin sack into the chimney until it was halfway down but jammed, but Luigi decided that was deep enough to claim he'd technically delivered them and decided he was going to leave.

He leapt off the roof and landed on the ground like a cat and prepared to swagger off back home, but suddenly he felt something tickle the back of his mind again. _Wait a minute!_ He thought _Those little brats were very rude to me yesterday! _He remembered, he also remembered losing his temper but he didn't care about that. Yeah, they were rude, which means he didn't feel bad about doing what he did next.

Luigi disappeared into the house through the open front door, found the large room all the Toadtots were sleeping in, calmly snoozing like a bunch of cute little babies, but don't worry he was about to fix that.

Keeping the lights off he whistled so loud that all the Toadtots woke with a start, still in the pitch blackness Luigi said in a creepy echoing voice "Welcome back to the land of the living, you're about to regret coming back!"

One Toadtot reached out from his bed for the light switch and the moment the room was flooded with light Luigi morphed his head into the most disgusting, most monstrous face he could create. He couldn't see it himself but it must've been horrific because all the Toadtot screamed at the top of their lungs, some even pathetically called out "MUMMY!"

Before any of them could get a good look at him he'd zoomed out of the room, out of the orphanage and left the Toadtots to cope with their childhood trauma and all the while Luigi was laughing like a loon.

* * *

><p>It took him a minute with the walking and then the talking but soon the possessed body of the Koopa slowly got up out of bed and looked around the room. He sat there for about an hour just staring into space while his mind caught up with what was happening.<p>

The room was dank, dark and cold and this body was damaged and full of pain, which is why it was so ideal for him but now the injuries were just a hindrance. He need to repair it because somehow he knew that it wouldn't repair itself, not now.

Standing on his two feet pain shot up his spinal cord, he needed to be whole again. Slowly and with a stiff legged gate of someone who didn't know how to walk properly he limped towards the door, took the handle and opened it up.

He opened the door a crack and lost his balance but managed to stop himself collapsing by leaning against the door frame. He was hungry.

His aching eyes caught sight of someone coming down the corridor. It appeared to be a turtle like creature, a Koopa he remembered the name, but he was dressed in green robes and carried a long, gold wand in his hand. He also had thick glasses that magnified his eyes to twice their size.

"You!" the Koopa said in a ghostly whisper at the robed Koopa.

"What do you want?" the robed Koopa bit.

"You!" he repeated.

"I don't have time to talk to peasants, Kamek is expecting me and I don't waste my time on cannon fodder Koopa's like you."

"Come and have a look at this" the Koopa said in another ghostly whisper "It's very interesting."

"Kamek doesn't like me missing lessons and I don't like being told what to do!" the robed Koopa said and began arrogantly walking away.

Though his head hurt the limping Koopa suddenly realised how he could easily trick this one "Alright, don't look, you won't find it interesting, its far too good for your eyes."

The robed Koopa spun around "Not good enough for my eyes?" he asked arrogantly "Nothings too good for my eyes, move aside peasant!" he said and pushed passed him into the room. "What is it?" he asked impatiently looking around.

The injured Koopa closed and bolted the door, locking them both in. "Dinner time" he added.

* * *

><p>Luigi arrived back at the Mario's house with the red roof with time to spare. He'd only been gone a few hours but despite that all the lights were out in the house so no doubt Mario was asleep, and Luigi very nearly walked through the front door still in his guise, but he stopped and considered.<p>

Should he tell Mario about this Mask? It was powerful, very powerful, it could make Luigi a super hero, make him powerful, make him respected and feared. But then the penny dropped with a horrible clang. Mario would never let him keep this Mask, he'd never let him use it, he'd claim it was dangerous and that they should get rid of it, typical Mario always thinking of himself, always thinking of his own image, his own reputation as being the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi wasn't going to stand for it.

The Mask was going to remain his secret, Mario didn't know a thing about it, or its powers so he wouldn't know any different after all. But either way he couldn't just walk into the house and go to bed like 'this' he had to be just plain Luigi.

Instinctively the plumber reached behind his head and knew exactly what to do. He grabbed at a fold in the rubber mask behind his head, he could feel it just under his unkempt, green hair and getting a grip on it he pulled. Both sides of the Mask parted and as he pulled on it harder and harder it began to peel off his face. The Mask fought back is if it was clinging to his face for dear life but that didn't stop him. Luigi felt the power start to leave him, he was surrounded by a whirl wind and flashes of bright light, the edges of his vision began to blur as the Mask started to pull away from his face. The rubber regained its wooden texture and hardened as it moved slowly further away from his face but still held onto his cheeks until it let him go and his cheeks snapped back into place and the Mask had hardened back into its inert form.

Luigi held up the Mask and noted from his sleeves that his 'Green Thunder' costume had turned back into his usual blue and green overalls. This Mask was a fantastic thing, he didn't even need to go hide in a phone booth and change he just needed to find a place out of the way and don this Mask and he'd become Green Thunder again. Excitement and possibilities raced through his head, he could don the Mask again now and go fight some crime, but then he remembered the last time he was out all night he woke up drained which just wouldn't do. No, he was going to sleep now but tomorrow was another night.

Hiding the Mask in his hat Luigi opened the front door of the house with his key and went inside.

"Mario?" he called gently just in case "Mario?" he asked again but no reply. He closed the door behind him and began ascending the stairs. That's when he heard it, a distinctive snoring coming from Mario's room.

Luigi giggled to himself, because while Luigi A.K.A. Green Thunder was out adventuring and questing Mario had been laying in bed back at the house sleeping.

Still lightly chuckling Luigi entered his own room, shut the door behind him and put the Mask on his bedside cabinet. He changed into his night things, crawled into bed and immediately fell asleep, wearing that Mask really takes it out of you. Luigi didn't notice as he snored in the land of nod that the Mask start to glow again, it just couldn't wait for the next time it would be worn.

* * *

><p>Bowser was not happy, really not happy. All the coins he'd collected in his secret stash, those he stole from his father, the ones he stole from innocent people and those he stole back from Roy, all were gone. He'd been robbed and all his great army of Koopa's could do was party and get down with that green faced guy who called himself Green Thunder.<p>

Bowser was venting his anger at the very Koopa's who had let him down. With fists clenched and baring his sharp teeth he screamed "HE GOT AWAY? HE PASSED BY ALL MY TRAPS, ALL MY SOLDIERS AND ESCAPED THE CASTLE?" he fumed "WHAT WERE YOU DOING? I PAY YOU ALL TO BE DESPICABLE AND CRUEL! NOT TO SING AND DANCE!"

The small group of Koopa's looked at each other for a few seconds confused. "We get paid?" one asked, "When?" asked another eagerly.

How can they think of coins at a time likes this? His coin stash had been stolen! "You get paid when Princess Peach is captured, Mario is defeated and the Mushroom Kingdom is mine!" Bowser snarled.

"That's our job?" Another Koopa asked "We might as well quit, the job description is an exercise in futility."

Bowser had had enough of this group of idiots "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT" he shouted so loud the castle itself shook and within seconds they had all scrambled away before Bowser made them into kebabs.

Bowser stamped as he walked fuming. Who was that guy, how was he able to do all those things? When he finds him he'll rip his head off. Bowser made a note to himself that he had a second nemesis now, Mario and the Green Thunder, the man who was arrogant enough to give King Bowser Koopa a wedgie, who turned his traps against him and made a mockery of his army. With his fists shaking in anger he punched the wall beside him and large cracks opened up in it.

"When I get a hold of that guy he's as dead as Mario!"

"King Bowser, sir?" said a throaty whisper of a voice that was almost snake like.

Bowsers massive bulk turned to a lone Koopa. A tall Koopa wearing the green robes and thick glasses of a magikoopa, which was a kind of wizard type koopa who could do magic.

"Baw, who are you want?"

"Nobody, sir" the Koopa said.

"Nobody? That's a weird name. What do you want?" Bowser paused before saying "Don't you dare ask me for a raise, I've just been robbed!"

"Oh no, you misunderstand me" the Koopa said coolly and almost creepily and sinisterly, Bowser liked this guy already he had style, plus he wasn't asking for a raise that was always good in his books. "I think I have information you might be interested in..." The Koopa suddenly turned his head left and right stretching muscles and Bowser thought he could hear some bones click. "It's about that man, the green one who robbed you."

There was something weird about this guy, he constantly twitched and moved like he didn't really know how to operate his body.

"You know where to find him?" and Bowser roared a cheer "Excellent, you'll get a promotion for this! Where is he?"

"I don't know where he is" the Koopa added

"Forget the promotion!" Bowser hissed but Nobody ignored him.

"But he did remind me of something, something you might want to look at" he said. Nobody took something from inside his robes, a large book, a book that Bowser was sure was slightly too large to fit under his robes. He handed it to Bowser who looked at it like a child would look at a dictionary.

"What's this?" Bowser asked as he strained to read the title "'Ancient Myths and mythology'?" the Koopa king thought for a long moment before saying "He reminded you to return an overdue library book?"

"No" Nobody said "Turn to page 64 and read from there, it'll be worth your while."

"I don't have time to read books" Bowser snarled.

"It's about who that guy is" Nobody said.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" and the Koopa king almost ripped the book open and turned to page 64. There was a lot of writing and words in this, he hated books with a lot of words in, he hated books full stop. At the top of the page was the title of the chapter and Bowser read it out loud.

"Loki?" he questioned, it was written in tall, green letters "Who or what is Loki?"

"Read the book, King Koopa, it'll be well worth it" Nobody urged. If this was some trick to get him to be educated then he's gonna fry this little Koopa but Bowser read the passage.

"Loki was a god of the Norsemen, the god of fire capable of altering his physical appearance and producing curiosities to confuse and confudel those around him blah, blah, blah. His relationships with the gods was often sketchy because of his ability to blah, blah, blah, became know as a trickster god and famously became the god of mischief. Bored, bored, bored. Tricked one god into murdering another, yap, yap, yap. Was banished from the godly world of Valhala to the real world, imprisoned forever." Bowser yawned "What does this have to do with the guy who stole my coins?"

"Are you actually reading it?" Nobody sighed "Doesn't the guy in the book sound familiar to you?"

Bowser continued to read on this time straining his brain to take in all the words this time, not just the edited highlights.

Loki was the Norse god of fire, though more popularly he is known as one of the night gods and famously the evil Lord of Mischief because of his impulse to cause trouble and create chaos, though at times he aided the gods most of the time he hindered them. Eventually he went too far when he tricked the blind god Hod into killing his twin brother god Balder by using a tainted arrow provided by Loki himself, the arrow was tipped with poison and was cursed to always find any target the curse was aimed at.

Odin, god of war however was not fooled. He knew Hod was not responsible for Balders death, and immediately knew Loki to be the cause of it. For this cruel trick Odin forever banished Loki from the Godly world of Valhalla to the mortal realm, he was sentenced to be buried deep under an eternal mountain, tided down to an unbreakable stone by the gutted intestines of his two ill-fated children. Some however feared this was just not enough and that one day Loki the mischief maker would escape so...

Bowser looked at the opposite page but that appeared to be the end of the chapter on Loki and started going on about some guy called Thor, he did think it was funny that it would just abruptly end but his mind was on more important matters.

"Well?" Nobody asked. Bowser closed the book and paused long and hard before saying. "I still don't get what this has to do with my coins."

Nobody sighed heavily, "Oh for Odin's sake look at the illustration!" and the Koopa pointed to a picture of Loki in the bottom corner. It showed a face that was divided down the middle in terms of expression, one half was smiling and had the look of mischief about it, the half was frowning with an annoyed expression on his face. But what Bowser noted about this picture of Loki was that it had a green face, and red eyes! Just like that guy he saw rob his coin stash.

"You mean you think that guy I saw, the one who called himself Green Thunder is this Loki character?" Bowser asked at last and Nobody replied "You may not be fast but you get there in the end"

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> A short chapter mostly to finish introducing the new bad guy, 'Nobody' as Bowser is calling him. And to give a bit of background info on Loki

I've decided to make Luigi keep the Mask a secret from Mario, because let's face it if Mario found out about the Mask then the story would end pretty quickly.

Hope you've all enjoyed the new chapter

-Cheers


	10. Ouroboros

**Chapter 9**

**Ouroboros**

General Karnage winced when he touched his head, there was pain there, a lot of pain, he had a massive headache which was down to being kicked across the hall and smashing his head against the wall a few days earlier.

Bowser had fared worse, he was thumped on the head a number of times by a falling Thwamp, but he seemed okay, after all he had a thick skull.

Being humiliated by this new shadow like character who calls himself Green Thunder hasn't gone down well with the Koopa King, he locked himself in his own quarters and shouted and yelled for days before he was calm enough to come out. When he did he took one look at his empty safe, slammed his door and began his tantrum all over again.

After about a week he seemed calm enough to leave his room at last, just so long as no one mentioned the words, Green, Thunder, or talked about coins then he was okay.

Curiously though Bowser was now hanging out with this Magikoopa that Karnage had never seen before. There was something odd about that character, he didn't know what though he just couldn't put his finger on it. It could be that each time he sees the Magikoopa he seemed to get more and more paler, and the fact that his limbs slowly became more stiff as time went on, a stiffness that vanished within 24 hours, this new Koopa was very odd. He didn't seem to eat or sleep and flies had started following him around. You could tell when he was coming because he seemed to be giving off a subtle odour which was probably what the flies were attracted to.

The one creepy thing about him though was that his lips by each day seemed to pull his face into some kind of grin showing the rotting teeth underneath. It reminded him of Fawnful's Magikoopa's from a couple of years back but this was clearly not one of his, this one had a brain of sorts.

Suddenly Bowser had given out an ultimatum, all his Koopa commanders were to report to him in a secret meeting place that was so secret Bowser had forgotten to write it down on the message. Kanrage at first wasn't going to go, he had better things to do but while in the corridor he bumped into another Koopa Commander. This one was kind of a rival, he was about his size with a green shell and blue eyes.

"Hello Sugar" Karnage said deadpan, the approaching Koopa's left check twitched nervously when he said it.

"That's Captain Sugar to you" he bit back. Captain Alexander Sugar was his full name, he wanted to be called Alexander as in Alexander the Great, but when Karnage started calling him Captain Sugar everyone started calling him that. Calling him simply Sugar however was a name Karnage had for him.

"And where are you going in such a hurry?" Karnage asked not really caring about the answer, he just wanted to get on his nerves.

"To the meeting of course, it's being held in Bowser's throne room, but of course you wouldn't know about it would you, you think you've got better things to do then listen to our Koopa leader." Sugar said, if he could sound any more like a backside kissing little weasel then he would be a weasel. But he was right, now that Karnage knew where it was he'd have no choice but to go, he'd prefer not to but he didn't want Sugar to think he was incompetent.

"Not at all, I was just wondering what was taking you so long. Bowser keeping you busy?" Karnage asked before suggesting "Got you and your squad to clean out the sewers?"

Sugar gave him an acid look before saying "Twice actually." He paused clearly thinking of something else to say "It's good training for the men, they must be ready in any conditions."

"Call me sceptical Sugar" Karnage said sarcasm heavy in his voice "but I don't think Koopa's have much call for crawling around dank, dark tunnels that are covered wall to wall the brown slurry from Bowsers royal toilet bowl."

"Ah, that's what you think Karange" Sugar jumped up at his chance to get his own back "My Koopa's could be sent on a dangerous daring mission that involves crawling through such areas."

"You're right there Sugar, you're Koopa's are needed" Karnage added "I hear Bowser blocked the toilet this morning."

Captain Sugar huffed and marched faster away from Karnage who was just behind him. The place of this so called secret meeting was in fact the throne room, because _of course no one would think of looking for a meeting whether secret or not in here_ Karnage thought. The secret part was even less credible because in the throne room apart from the other five Koopa commanders there were also dozens of Koopa's and Goomba's milling around.

Karnage couldn't help but notice the Magikoopa in green robes and creepy wide grin come into the room and start pushing past everyone to get to the throne where Bowser sat, he was clearly annoyed that his secret meeting had been discovered so easily.

"How can Bowser expect secret meetings to stay secret when his security has more leaks then than his sewage pipes!" Karnage commented.

"I smell a rat" Sugar said suspiciously looking at Karnage accusingly, he just ignored him and quipped.

"No, that's just Ester Randson over there" he said referring to Bowser's wide grinning MagiKoopa friend.

"HEY, ATTENTION! ATTENTION!" Bowser called and the murmuring and conversation between the different Koopa's and Goomba's halted.

"Now, first I'd like to say, thanks everyone for taking time to attend this meeting but honestly if you're not supposed to here... GET LOST OR YOU'RE TOAST!" he shouted the last few words. The Koopa's and Goomba's not wanting to be turned into kebabs quickly left the room in a flash, within seconds there was not a trace that they had been there at all.

"Ever thought of doing crowd control at the next Football Strikers match?" Karnage joked, of course Bowser took it seriously.

"Crowd control? Yeah, maybe I will, then I can 'make' everyone all cheer for the Koopa Thumpers this year at the Star Cup!"

"Your Royal Koopaness" the pale MagiKoopa said in that hiss of a voice "Maybe we should start the meeting."

"Oh yeah, right" Bowser sat back down in his throne. There were only a handful of them there, Karnage and Sugar, plus five other Koopa commanders who looked like all the other Koopa's except they were slightly taller. Bowser's Hierarchy was based on whoever was the largest rather than skill or tactics, which is why if you were a good commander but you were short you weren't going to get anywhere. The other one was his advisor, Kamek, another Magikoopa who prided himself as being the most powerful magikoopa of the lot.

"I call this meeting to a start" Bowser said stamping his foot. "Now I've called you all here because we have a new enemy, that freak who stole my coins!" Bowser growled.

"and humiliated your kids, and beat you up, and gave you a wedgie and defeated your entire army." Karnage added.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah that too, who's in charge here?" Bowser growled

"You are sir" Karange said while saying under his breath "But I can't think why."

"That's right!" Bowser went back to what he was saying "The guy who calls himself Green Thunder, I have reason to believe this human with magic powers is a powerful Norse God of Mischief called Loki."

"Sir, how did you work that out?" Sugar queried. _Lady bird book of Norse Gods I'm guessing _Karnage thought.

"I have been granted an insight into these matters by a new ally, this!" he gestured towards the Magikoopa. "Is Nobody"

"That's rude isn't it? If he's our ally." Sugar said. Clearly the Koopa has said something and Bowser's taken it to mean exactly that.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Bowser growled.

"Shouldn't we call him by his name" Sugar asked.

"That is his name." Bowser growled.

"Nobody calls themselves Nobody" Kamek said

"If we could get back on track" the Nobody Magikoopa said, "if you want to call me anything call me..." he paused in thought, didn't he know his own name? "...Ouroboros"

"Are you Latin?" Kamek asked.

"You'd better stick with 'Nobody'" Karnage said quipping "Bowser has enough trouble with English."

"ENOUGH!" Bowser shouted, it was hard to take these meeting seriously the way Bowser and his Koopa commanders kept getting side tracked. "I've called this meeting to discuss what we're going to do with this guy, I can't have someone more powerful then I am in this kingdom!"

"That'll be half the Mushroom Kingdoms phone book obliterated." Karnage quipped dryly but no one paid attention to him.

* * *

><p>Luigi felt ill, it was one in the afternoon and he had his head down on the table and was just dozing, he just wanted to crawl into bed and go to sleep but he had work to do, he had to do the laundry and vacuum the floors, there was an entire list of things that needed doing around the house but he was just too exhausted to do it.<p>

He'd spent all night out crime fighting as Green Thunder, he said crime fighting, there was hardly any crime to fight so rather then turn in for the night and rest he did nothing but eat, go to the cinema, went into hospital to pay the Wario's a visit, which they didn't like because he tormented them by appearing at the front of their beds and running away before anyone else turned to look. He did it enough times to make the hospital staff think they were both insane, then he 'friendly' smacked them both on the back very hard before doing his road runner act.

Lifting his head he grabbed his cup of coffee from the table and took a grateful sip of it before his head slammed back down on the table. His hat rolled off his head and he very quickly he pushed it back on because under his hat he kept the Mask. It was the safest place he could think of because he needed to keep it hidden and on hand in case he quickly needed to become the Green Thunder, just so long as the bad guys strike at night, otherwise he's stuck as plain Luigi but he can leave the day stuff to Mario. Leave the night stuff to Luigi/Green Thunder because 'Green Thunder owns the night' or so he kept telling himself.

"Hey Luigi!" said Mario coming into the room "You okay, you look terrible."

"I didn't sleep well" Luigi yawned lifting his head off the table.

"You must've suddenly become a light sleeper" Mario said "Your bed looks hardly slept in."

Luigi didn't reply, he just kept his eyes shut as his foggy mind tried to force himself to go to sleep.

"Luigi wake up, we've got guests" oh, not guests, he can't stand guests, not right now, not while he felt so drained.

Luigi gratefully downed his coffee, stood up, walked over to the sink and turned the taps on. He gathered a handful of water and splashed it into his eyes, he took a deep breath and turned the water off and yawned again.

He then left the kitchen and walked into the living room where there sat two Koopa's, and Luigi nearly jumped out of his skin and screamed because he thought Bowser was invading again.

"Hey there Luigi" said one of the Koopa's who sat on their sofa with a drink.

"Hi there" Luigi asked looking at both of them, they didn't look like Bowsers Koopa's, in fact they looked like plumbers by the tools they had on their belt "what's going on?"

"We're Rob and Dave Packer of Packers plumbing. We've come to ask for your plumbing expertise." The Koopa on the left said who looked more relaxed then his counterpart who looked bored and like he didn't want to actually be there.

"Just expertise mind" Dave said quickly "We can do the job ourselves."

"Dave, be quiet." Rob said before continuing on "We're working on opening an old section of pipe that has been sealed off for years and... well we've found something odd. You'll have to see it because we don't understand what we're seeing."

Luigi looked at Mario and Mario at Luigi, it had been years since they had an honest client who wanted them just to do a plumbing job. Luigi liked plumbing it's what they both trained for after all before becoming heroes.

"What's so weird about it?" Mario asked.

"We've got a weird pipe, it looks like it's been blown out but it's also produced an odd rock formation. I thought you might've seen something similar in all your years of plumbing."

Mario turned back to Luigi "What do you think bro?"

"Hey, let's do it, it's been years since we've been offered a plumbing job." Luigi added

"By the way" Dave piped up "Did we mention there was a monster who was trapped down there centuries ago" did he just say monster? "and is probably still down there, roaming along in the darkness." Oh no, no, no, no, no not a monster, Luigi couldn't stand monsters. Dave must've been able to read his expression because he looked pretty smug about himself.

"Do we have to go now?" Luigi asked quickly "Can we go in 10 hours time?" if they go when its night then Luigi could don the Mask and fight and defeat the monster easily.

"That'll be after hours" Dave cut across "We only work 8am-5pm, and we don't get paid overtime."

"Well, can we just put it off for a while?" Luigi asked, then suddenly without thinking he added "preferably until after I'm dead."

"Luigi!" Mario said surprised at Luigi's rudeness.

"Don't worry, we've been working down there for weeks and haven't seen any monster." Rob said shooting Dave a warning look, but when Rob turned back to Mario and Luigi, Dave added "Of course, that doesn't mean the monster doesn't exist."

Luigi felt his legs turn to jelly, the idea of fighting monsters was terrifying to him, he'd be okay if there was something at stake like the future of the Mushroom Kingdom, but to make way for an extension to a sewer, no way. He wasn't going to fight a many tentacles monster with drool dribbling from long, monstrous fangs that could rip his body to pieces in seconds just for the sake of installing plumbing in some new homes. He'd only go if he could use the Mask.

"Hey, Luigi" Mario said pulling his brother to one side out of ear shot "Don't pay any attention to him, he's only trying to scare you."

"Well, he's wasting his time because I'm scared already." Luigi blubbered.

Luigi realised that by blubbering he's only confirming the myth that he's as chicken as a... well... a chicken. So to prove to these two Koopa's he could be as brave as Mario he decided to lie to get out of this. "Actually, there is nothing I'd be willing to do more than fight giant, monsters with sharp teeth but..." he thought quickly "...I'm expected at the castle, Toadsworth wants me to help... with something."

"That's okay" Rob said "We can manage by ourselves if Toadsworth needs you for more pressing duties."

"Truck load of pens need counting?" Dave taunted.

"No, no, umm..." Luigi tried to think "Toadsworth needs me to guard Peach, you know, in case Bowser tries to kidnap her again."

Inside Luigi gave a sigh of relief, he may be the Green Thunder, sometimes, but right now he's just a mortal and mortals could die. Though he could tell Mario could see straight through that deception he'd just conjured up, but deep down he knew too that Rob and Dave knew he was making it up as well, but he didn't care. If there was a monster down there then he'd leave it to the Green Thunder when night fell.

"Hey, can you hear that?" Dave said holding his left hand up to his ear and listening to the air.

"Hear what?" the Koopa brother asked him.

"Oh no, it's all right it's just a bull taking a massive dump" Dave said acidly.

Luigi clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked, why that arrogant little Koopa. The green plumber just wanted to go over there and punch his lights out, but instead of giving in to his frustrations he just turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Hey, Luigi!" Mario shouted after him as he climbed the stairs but Luigi ignored him. The plumber pushed open his room door and shut it behind him just a little harder then he intended.

What did that little Koopa know? He was just a stupid little reptile. Had he ever saved a princess, fought off monsters, knock Koopa Troopa's out of their shells, fly like a real super hero by using the magic feathers, give Bowser Koopa a wedgie? No he hadn't, if he gets half the chance he'd get him for this.

Lifting his hat off his head he took the Mask from the inside and looked into those craggy wooden eyes and that slight upward turning smile. It was almost egging him on, 'Go on, put it on, do it, get your revenge' and he would have.

He looked out his bedroom window and saw Mario and the two Koopa's retreating into the distance, yeah and he meant to use the word 'retreating' because he never knew what he was going to do once he put this mask on his face. As he said he would've put this Mask on and taught Dave the Koopa a lesson. But unfortunately the Mask only worked at night and it was still daytime.

Realising this Luigi took a deep breath and as he exhaled it was as if all the frustrations were evaporating with it, boy he really got upset. He replaced the Mask inside his hat and placed it back on his head.

* * *

><p><strong>Two hours later...<strong>

Luigi sighed deeply, his heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach had butterflies in it. He wasn't scared per say, it was just the feeling he got when he saw a young woman called Princess Daisy.

Luigi was in the castle of Princess Peach, leaning against a window his elbows on the windowsill, his face in his hands and he just looked at Daisy in the courtyard.

She was with Peach, in the middle of the courtyard having a picnic in the glorious sun shine with two other Toads. Luigi would go down and join them but to be honest, whenever he saw Daisy fear hit him, not fear for his life, just fear of Daisy herself, fear of rejection. Whenever he saw her he'd make some excuse not to talk to her, it was rude but it was either that or he makes a fool of himself and become tongue tide or something.

Daisy was almost as tall as Peach, she wore a similar dress to hers only Daisy's was yellow and orange with a broach like a flower. Her brownish, reddish hair reached down the back of her neck and spread out like a pair of wings, unusual analogy he admitted but it's what his mind was coming up with. Her eyes were such a shade of blue they glistened like diamonds. She was also very slender, almost as much as Peach and she was such a flirter. The way she talks was also unusual, she uses slang and talks like a 'commoner' as some would put it. This made the other kingdoms see her as slightly inferior because of how common she acted, but to Luigi it was just one of a few cute flaws in a perfect gem stone, it's always those cute 'flaws' that keep a guy interested.

Luigi continued to stare dreamily at her until...

"Hey Luigi" said a voice that spooked Luigi so much he jumped to his feet and smacked his head on the window, he bit back the temptation to yell.

"You okay Luigi, I didn't meant to startle you." Luigi turned around, it was that little Toad Toadrick whom he'd saved from the Koopa Bullies as Green Thunder and whom helped deliver a bag of coins to the Orphanage a few weeks ago.

"Don't worry about it" though inside he was in a foul mood with him "It was only an accident."

Toadrick then walked over to the window and peered out of it. "Lovely weather isn't it?" he stated "Oh look, there are the princesses down there."

Luigi looked outside again and saw Daisy, and his heart went aflutter, he felt like he should be melting into the stonework at his feet.

"You like Daisy, don't you?" Toadrick asked. This took Luigi by surprise

"Wha... I don't know what you mean!"

"Come on, everyone sees how you go all googly eyed over her." Luigi could feel his face start to go very red. "It's okay" Toadrick added "I fancy Toadla and Toadette. There I've shared my crushes."

Luigi was going to argue again, but he caught sight of Daisy through the window and his heart took control of him again "Yeah" he said dreamily "She's perfect."

"Well, she's nice, go talk to her." Luigi turned to look at Toadrick as if he had two heads.

"No, no, no, no. I don't want to talk to her." Luigi said so quickly that he was almost tripping over his own words.

"Why not, she won't bite your head off." Toadrick said "In fact I think she likes you as well."

"Really?" Luigi said without thinking "Nah, you're just bluffing."

"No really, I mean it." Toadrick said, though Luigi didn't believe it. Daisy wouldn't be interested in him, he was just a plumber, he was just the sidekick to the hero, he'd never rescued Daisy singlehanded, in fact she only needed rescuing once or twice and both those times it was Mario who came to her rescue.

Luigi looked at Daisy, sucked in his gut and pushed out his chest to make him look more masculine, but just as he was about to walk out the door and say hello his nerve failed, his lanky form sagged back down to his original look and he turned to Toadrick and said. "No I can't, she won't believe I'm just walking over there to talk causally to her."

"Sheesh, do you want me to bring her over to you to talk?" Toadrick said.

"NO!" Luigi almost screamed out loud holding out his hands to emphasise he didn't want to. Toadrick just looking at Luigi with a look of pity, pity he didn't need, 'Tell him to crawl back under the tree he grew from' said a voice in Luigi's head but he ignored it.

"Well, you better make your move soon, she's only staying for the day and she's off back to her own kingdom." Toadrick then turned and began to walk away. Luigi turned back to the window and continued to look at Peach and Daisy. Where was he? Ah yes, and he continued from his original train of thought. There was something about her more roundish face that made her more appealing to Luigi then Peach did, maybe it was because Peach was perfect, Daisy was flawed like himself, he was sure they were meant for each other but he just didn't have the courage to talk to her.

From the grass Daisy took a sip of tea from her cup and placed it back down on the saucer. She then glanced up and spotted him looking at her, he quickly tried to pretend he was looking at something else, but it was no good Daisy knew he was looking at her. Their eyes met across the lawn, tension built in Luigi's shoes, tension that became even tighter when Daisy winked at him. Feeling his face start to burn red again he ducked away from the window.

That could've been the moment, he should've gone over to talk to her, but instead he shied away. He's probably blown his chances now, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!

Pressing his back to the wall he slowly sank down to the floor until he was sitting on it, his legs sprawled out beneath him. Lifting his cap off his head he retrieved the Mask from under it and held it out in front of him, facing its face. Why couldn't he have the courage this Mask gives him while he's wearing it. He knew exactly what he'd do, he'd go over to Daisy, introduce himself and maybe ask her to dance in the most gentlemanly type way but again his nerve would refuse to do it. He could don the Mask and ask her out as the Green Thunder, but what good would that do, they wouldn't be in any kind of relationship worth having, it would be based on lies. No, he'll just stay out of her way, at least then he live in blissful ignorance of knowing if she liked him that much or not.

"Why can't I have the bravery you have" he said talking to the Mask as if he was talking directly to the Green Thunder himself.

"Hi Luigi" said another, softer voice and for one shocking moment Luigi thought the voice came from the Mask. Spooked he dropped it and leapt up so quickly he sent himself into a high jump that made him hit his head on the rafters above. Then he dropped to the floor in a heap.

"Ouch! You okay?" the voice asked again and as Luigi's eye sight and mind came back into focus he saw standing over him the form of Daisy. Suddenly realising he was laying on the floor at her feet and quickly got up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just..." he tried to think fast "testing the rafters." He looked up "Yep, they held up pretty well to my attack."

"Must be a headache testing rafters like that." Daisy joked. Luigi started to feel himself tremble, he swallowed and knew Daisy wasn't buying the testing rafters story.

"By the way, is this yours?" she said holding up the wooden Mask, he must've dropped it when he jumped up.

"Yeah, yeah, that's mine." Luigi confirmed.

"It's a cool mask" Daisy said and playfully placed it over her face. Luigi felt his guts and intestines clench in panic but thankfully it was still day so nothing happened. "This thing must be an antique, it looks like it belongs in a museum."

Luigi's mouth refused to function, he tried to move his mouth but nothing was coming out of it. Daisy removed the Mask and held it out for Luigi to take it, as Luigi gingerly grabbed the opposite end of the Mask and pulled on it Daisy didn't release her grip, she kept a tight hold on it and as Luigi tried to pull it away she tried pulling it back towards her and Luigi didn't resist. He was too mesmerised by those pretty eyes of hers.

"You don't talk much do you sweetie?" she smiled and winked at him "Don't worry, I don't bite." Luigi felt his legs wanting to tremble at twice the rate. Did this mean she liked him, it must be. Luigi felt his heart began to inflate to a larger size, but it stopped when he realised he couldn't tell if she just liked him or if she actually wanted him. All Luigi could do was giggle a little and feel his face turn a little red.

Daisy let go of the Mask and Luigi let his arms drop to his side still holding onto it.

"Me and Peach and a few Toads are having tea in the court yard, wanna join us?" Daisy asked. Was this acceptance or merely her being polite?

"Fleathen" Luigi garbled "Fthathe thagr oferar" he spouting nothing but nonsense and Luigi's face just went redder and redder. STOP IT, STOP GOING RED! He screamed at his cheeks but they didn't listen, they just went redder and redder.

"I see." Daisy said taking a single step back "you must be busy, I'll see ya later" with that said she turned and slowly walked away back to Peach. Luigi still sprouting nonsense in her wake.

When she was out the door he collapsed again onto the floor. That was another chance he had and it must've been strike three, you're out. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Hey don't worry about it Luigi" said yet another voice, this one was not kind or soft spoken, it spoke bluntly "You don't stand a chance anyway" the plumber looked up to see the Toad Toadlop standing over him, that stupid Toad with at stupid little moustache of his. "You're more likely to get a date with a Goomba then a princess, or even a human."

Something in Luigi's mind snapped and he leapt to his feet "Oh, look who's talking about getting girls, Mr._ I'm so unstylish I've got a Hilter 'tash_!" he fumed. Toadlop looked taken aback and surprised at Luigi's outburst, but still the little growth of athletes foot decided to push it even further.

"Oh, I see you've finally grown a backbone, you green sneeze stain." And Toadlop raised his right hand to his forehead and made an L shape with his forefinger and thump imitating the L on his cap and started to mouth the word 'Loser' because that's what the sign he was making also meant.

It was as if a damn had burst in Luigi's head, he dropped the Mask and clenched his knuckles so much they cracked. He couldn't stop himself from what he was about to do. He reached into his overalls and pulled out a large hammer from his pocket, it was one of his plumbing tools and he knew how to use it. He raised it over his head and brought it straight down where a moment ago Toadlop had been standing before he'd jumped back.

The brat of a Toad looked at Luigi in horror "YAH! KEEP AWAY FROM ME YOU LOON!" he yelled and ran away as fast as his short legs could carry him. Luigi could easily catch him up and mash him into the floor but after releasing all the fury his brain seemed to just drain it away from him.

Realising what he's just done he quickly put the hammer away, and shook his head to clear it before scooping up the Mask and took one last look at that mischievous grin on its face before replacing it into the roof of his cap and placing it back on his head. Losing all that sleep was starting to make him irritable, maybe he'll take the night off as Green Thunder to catch up on some sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes: <strong>It's been suggested that Luigi and Daisy have a similar relationship to Mario and Peach, so I'm writing this as the start of it.

I'm planning to have the relationship between Captain Sugar and General Karnage the same one as between Blackadder and Darling of 'Blackadder goes forth'

I came up with the name Alexader Sugar from catching a bit of the Apprentice UK where the boss there is a man called Alan Sugar and I just thought how he must've been tortured at school for that name, so like Darling of Blackadder I gave Karnage's opposing Koopa rival a silly name to do similar jokes.

Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter

Cheers


	11. The Kidnapping

**Chapter 10**

**The Kindnapping**

Bowser and Ouroboros explained what, or who they are looking for and to Karnage it sounded ludicrice. This guy who called himself Green Thunder was really Loki, a Mischief maker according to Ouroboros, a Norse God who's main aim was to manipulate others and cause chaos in the world. After that the meeting became a kind of Free-for-all argument, some Koopa generals stated they should try to recruit Loki to their cause, others said that they should find a way to kill Loki, others that they should capture him and interrogate him to find out how much he knows, exactly what they were to interrogate him about Karnage didn't know, exactly why would a god care what went on in Bowsers Kingdom. However now Kamek and Ouroboros appeared to be going head to head with an argument.

"I don't trust you Ouroboros!" Kamek said

"Do I look like I care?" Ouroboros shot back coolly

"You waltz in here in your green robes and big teeth and say you can advise Bowser better then I?" Kamek said outraged.

"I can't advise him any worse" Ouroboros shot back, Kamek didn't know what to say to this, he looked around for support, without finding any from the other koopas all he said was "... umm... was that an insult?"

"Does Bowser have breath that can cut through bank vaults?" Ouroboros quipped dryly. Several Koopas laughed, including Bowser himself clearly seeing this as more of a compliment than an insult.

"I like this guy" the Koopa King declared "He's got spunk!" and the Koopa king patted the pale MagiKoopa on the back. Karnage wasn't sure but he was almost certain he saw Ouroboros' higher teeth detach from his gums before his tough pushed them back up, almost like he was wearing a pair of false dentures.

"Whatever he's got, if you stand too close to him you'll probably get it too." Karange quipped. The room they were in was heated to quite an extent, they were cold blooded reptiles after all and needed to stay warm, however this warmth only seemed to emphasise the stench coming off of Ouroboros, like he was just relieveing himself inside his shell and not wiping himself. The smell was subtle at first but was gradually getting worse.

"I still don't trust him!" Kamek said

"He's offered more info on this matter then you have" Karnage said

"We shouldn't trust him!" Kamek insisted

"I think we've all got something to bring to this discussion..." Captain Sugar said trying to keep things civil but Karange was aware he wasn't helping when he answered "... and from now on I think the thing Kamek should bring is silence." More laughter from the Koopas followed.

"Listen!" Bowser interrupted "This has gone on long enough and is getting us nowhere. I know what I want us all to do, I want to find Loki and get my coins back and maybe get him out of the way. I already have a short, overweight, plumber who keeps re-kidnapping my kidnapped victims, I don't need a mythical Norse God stealing my stolen coins! I want Loki and I want him brought to justice!"

"Justice?" Karange echoed

"YES!" Bowser bellowed.

"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with 'our' Bowser?" Karnage added, this time all the other Koopas fought to hold in their laughter for fear of angering the Koopa King.

"Don't push it Karnage! I tolerate your smart remarks only because I find them amusing when they're aimed at others, keep it that way!"

"Oh yes sir" Karnage said with a hint of subtle sarcasm that Bowser didn't pick up on.

"I suggest we form a small group, of Ourobororororousses' choosing that will hunt down and bring Loki to me!" Bowser continued, still unable to pronounce Ouroboros' name right.

"Ouroboros?!" Kamek screamed in outrage "Why does Ouroboros get to lead the group?!"

"Because he wants someone with more brain cells then they have teeth" Ouroboros commented much to Kameks annoyance.

"Well, I say we should have a competition!" Kamek said suddenly jumping up onto the table and drawing his magic sceptre, which was a golden staff with a red jewel in its head, a jewel which began to glow reflecting the anger in its weilder. "I challenge you to a duel, buck teeth, the winner gets to lead the hunt for this Loki guy!"

"Consider carefully, I assure you I am not as infirm as I look" Ouroboros said, his voice dropping a few octaves to sound pretty creepy.

"You should consider backing down or I'll smash those white teeth out of your mouth!" Kamek said walking towards him still pointing the wand at Ouroboros who just sat there coolly.

"Are you threatening me, Kamek?" Ouroboros said as a strange, black aurora started to surround him.

"You catch on fast, stinky K...!" Kamek never managed to finish this sentence as a blast of bright, purple energy suddenly erupted from Ouroboros and engulfed Kamek with a loud bang. Once the smoke had cleared everyone could see Ouroboros was holding his own version of a Magikoopa staff, this one had a black gem in it and was pointing directly at Kamek, who was still alive but he was covered in soot and his face was frozen in a mask of astonishment. Then from his mouth came small white pebbles, they were his teeth! They were falling out and collecting on the table around his clawed feet. Slowly Kamek lowered his wand and, still with that mask of astonishment on his face he said. "...umm... okay, we'll call that a draw..."

* * *

><p>Down a warp pipe and along a dank, dark sewer Rob had to admit he had gotten used to the smell and the dampness about the place but Dave still complanied about it. "You think mushroom people wouldn't produce crap that stank so bad" Dave would say. But right now he was in a mood over them hiring Mario to figure out a mystery. Mario seemed comfortable with the Mushroom Kingdom sewers himself being a plumber and having gone down them enough times himself to follow Bowser and rescue Peach.<p>

Mario was being very useful in giving them tips and suggestions on what equipment they should use for certain things, he was a wealth of knowledge about plumbing but Dave looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep. Dave was the kind of person who wanted to get the job done quickly and cheeply, where as Rob wanted to get it done right so their buisness could expand, after all, if the customer came back and complained it would do more damage to their image than asking the Mario's for assistance which Rob claimed would also damage their image. To Rob that just showed that the Packer brothers were determined to get the job done and get it done right, therefore improving their image in the public mind. But Dave couldn't see that, he thought with his pride more than his mind.

"It's not far now" Rob said as they rounded a corner and saw the pipe they were looking for, the one that up until a few days ago had been blocked, the one that had spewed both him and Dave out when the pressure behind it was released. "This is the one"

"and you said it's been blocked for centuries?" Mario asked

"It was until we opened it up." Rob said.

"What's in there?" Mario asked

"Only what you take with you" Dave said in a dry, Yoda like voice.

"Dave, shut up" Rob said to his older Koopa brother.

"Oh, temper you have there hmm?" Dave continued.

While they were bickering they failed to notice Mario had already entered the pipe and with a glug, glug, glug, the pipe warped him to where it went. Rob an Dave both followed him and with a glug, glug, glug they were transported and exited the pipe also with a glug, glug, glug.

When they landed on solid floor they heard Mario yet out a loud yelp

"Sorry Mario" Rob said realising he'd just stood on the plumbers foot. It was totally pitch dark where they were as there was no natural light or anything that would allow them to see.

"Is there any lights in here?" Mario asked bumping into something "I can't see a foot in front of my face."

"Just a second while I find the switch for the lights we set up"

"OW!" Dave screeched as Rob stepped on his feet as well.

"Sorry Dave, but as Mario said I can't see a foot in front of my face." Rob explained.

"Do that again and you'll be seeing 'my' foot in front of your face!"

Rob felt around for the lightswitch, he was sure it was somewhere in this direction, he felt something that felt like the light switch and he pulled on it. "OW! Rob that was my tail!" and the younger Koopa felt a sharp whack to his head, he was lucky he was wearing his safety hat but it was unlucky for Dave as he'd just smacked his hand against it and was now shouting a string of curses into the darkness.

After a couple more seconds searching Rob found the light switch. "Ah, found it!" he exclaimed at last.

"Rob" Mario was saying "You've got flash lights on your helmets, why not use them to find the light switch?"

Rob could feel himself going red, he so wanted to impress Mario, he was the man to talk about plumbing and was the guy with all the connections to help build their business and give them a good name in the industry, but Rob felt like he could hit himself for make such a stupid mistake. But then Rob quickly came up with an excuse "They're broken" he said, which wasn't strictly speaking true, their batteries were just flat.

Without waiting for anything else to happen Rob pulled on the light switch lever and a string of lights lit up. The first thing Mario noticed was the state of the exit warp pipe they came from, it was shredded like someone had taken a giant pencil sharpener to the thing. The other half of the warp pipe was high in the air, out of their reach but before Mario noticed that he noticed the extent of this cavern they had stumbled onto.

"WHOA!" Mario issued, a noise that echoed around him for a good couple of seconds.

"This is what I wanted you to see" Rob said gesturing around the large cavern that extended to beyond the eye could see, vanishing into the darkness on both sides. "Seen anything like this in your experience as a plumber?"

"Nothing like this, no" Mario asked inquisitively "What do you think made it?"

"You're supposed to tell us!" Dave exclaimed "That's what we're paying you for!"

"You're not paying me anything" Mario reminded him "I'm doing this as a friendly favour."

"You can do me a favour and get lost!" Dave said not even trying to hide his rudeness. "We need a plumber who's more into plumbing then rescuing princesses."

"You should see my résumé" Mario said as he walked over to the walls and began to feel them. "I'm a qualified Plumber, demolitions expert, carpenter, builder and I'm even a doctor."

"You a doctor, ha!" Dave laughed loudly at this "That's like finding out Donky Kong can not only read and write, but also understands quadratic equations!"

Neither Mario nor Rob laughed at this so Dave continued "He's gone from cleaning out your colon, to cleaning out drainage pipes, so technically its the same job, only difference is you're dealing with it a few hours later." Again, neither Mario nor Rob laughed. "Man, tough crowd!"

"We'll laugh at you when you die, not before" Rob acidly shot back.

Mario was now sticking his fingers into some very fine grooves you could see in the rock, as he ran his fingers across them he seemed to notice the rocks falling down from the walls. "Strange, its like these walls have been carved out."

"Carved out what with?" Rob asked genuinely interested.

"I don't know" Mario admitted "as a carpenter I never used tools that you could use to bore out the English Channel tunnel." Rob didn't know what he meant, nor what this English Channel tunnel was, but then Mario elaborated "This entire cavern was bored out by some massive, rotating tool."

"Reality check here Mario" Dave came back his voice dripping with sarcasm "They didn't have anything that big that long ago!"

"I never said it was made at the same time, this could've been made recently with a giant burrowing machine, but the rock looks like it was carved some time ago."

"Oh, so you're an archaeologist as well, all of a sudden what makes you qualified to make assumptions like that?!" Dave shot at him, Mario just turned to him and simply said"Carpenter & plumber, what makes you qualified to tell me I'm wrong?"

* * *

><p>Back in the Mushroom Kingdom a couple of hunters were stalking their prey. Their prey, Princess Peach, and the Hunters? 3 Koopa's.<p>

Alpha, Beta and Theta the only three fit members of Koopa Squad were hiding behind a pillar in Peache's castle waiting for their target. The other two Koopa's were still out of action due to their failed attempt to capture Luigi when they were set upon by the dark tornado. Only these three remained intact enough to be sent back into action after a few days.

They had abandoned their black suits because they realise they made too much noise when they moved. Instead they were wearing different coloured shells to tell each other apart. Alpha was wearing red, Beta blue and Theta green, which of course is much better camouflage then black leather suits that squeak with every movement.

Alpha was proud of being the leader of Koopa squad. Actually his original code name was never Alpha, it was Beta, but the real Alpha was injured to the point where he had to step down as the leader of Koopa Squad and Beta was promoted to Alpha and Delta became the new Beta.

Koopa Squad was formed by Bowser and was formed from best Koopa's in the army, however Bowsers idea of 'the best Koopa's' was debatable, they weren't picked for specialist skills, nor expert knowledge or even because they were good warriors, they were picked because they were the few Koopas that had survived Mario. Unfortunately they only survived for different reasons and none of them because of fighting, they survived because Mario beat them up and didn't eliminate them. Usually Mario would stomp on them causing them to withdraw into their shells and then kick them and use them like a football/soccer ball smashing them into other enemies eventually letting them fall down a pit to their doom.

Alpha survived because his shell landed in a pit and bounced backwards and forwards for hours before stopping. Beta survived because he was swallowed by Yoshi during the dinosaur land invasion and was later pushed out of the Yoshi's 'exit' as waste, this left him a little shaken and had spent the best part of two years getting over his journey. Theta's story was less traumatic but just as sad. Theta had been in every single adventure and misadventure against Mario right from the beginning, but Theta for some reason had this mental condition where he keeps walking forward and can't tell when a drop is coming and he just walks over the edge. Every time he landed on his head, got knocked out and woke up after Mario had rescued Peach and each time he appeared to lose more and more of his brain cells. Just last night Alpha saw Theta sitting down laughing his head off at a DVD of a comedian, but he wasn't even watching it, he didn't even own a player, he just laughed at the DVD box.

Koopa Squad was now Alphas and he had decided to try to capture Peach, he wasn't disheartened however that Bowser and the Koopa army has been trying to do this for years and failed. The three had gotten into the castle alright, there was no army, no security it's as if Peach wanted to be captured.

Suddenly from around the corner came their prey, a tall girl with long blond hair, Peach! There was another girl with her, she was the same height but had shoulder length brownish red hair, she was in a yellow dress of a similar design to Peach's. They were also accompanied by a handful of toads and the old toad Toadsworth.

"Okay guys get ready!" Alpha said hiding behind the pillar to make it eclipse him from Peach and her guard.

"Okay, just run through the plan one more time" Beta asked pressing himself against the pillar.

"Oh come on, how many times are we going to go through this?" Alpha fumed "Once they pass us, cut the lights, and in the confusion we'll capture Peach. It's as simple as A-B-C!"

"D-E-F-G-H-I..." Theta continued.

"I wasn't saying the Alphabet Theta!" said Alpha.

"How to I turn off the lights?" Beta asked.

"Turn the light switch, duh!" Alpha fumed as if this was obvious.

"You mean that light switch over there?" Beta pointed and Alpha's cold blood froze. The light switch was on the other side of the hall. Alpha didn't speak for a few seconds.

"Well done Beta, I wondered when you'd spot that" Alpha said pretending that this was all part of his plan. "Okay, once they pass us, run over there, turn out the lights, then we grab Peach."

"But what about..." Beta wanted to ask but Alpha shushed him, "Don't ask stupid questions, we just need to capture Peach."

"Which one is Peach?" Theta asked, was he for real? How could he not know which one was Peach?

"The old toad with arthritis, what do you think? The girl in the Peach dress!" Alpha fumed.

"Oh, the one in the Peach dress!" Theta said realising as if this wasn't obvious.

"Bingo!" Alpha said, finally Theta realised and Alpha turned back to their target but he was distracted again when Theta had another question.

"Bingo? Who's Bingo, are we going to kidnap him too?" Theta was really serious about this issue, Alpha wanted to punch him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" there was an awkward pause before Theta said "We're just going to capture Peach? Right?"

"Bing..." Alpha was about to say but Beta interrupted "Don't say it! You'll just confuse him again. Listen what about..." But again Alpha interrupted him. "Not now, here they come!"

Alpha, Beta and Theta shuffled around the pillar so that they were out of sight of Peach and the toads.

"Okay guys, about face!" Alpha ordered and both he and Beta turned around to face the backs of their targets, but Theta stood facing them clueless "What about my face?" he asked. "IT'S FACING THE WRONG WAY!" Alpha hissed. After taking that hint Theta turned to their targets.

"Ready? NOW!" and Beta raced across the corridor and flipped the switch off and the lights went out.

"Oh, these blasted lights!" Toadsworth said. Alpha, Beta and Theta raced at them in pitch darkness. Alpha went to throw a punch at Toadsworth, but Alpha got hit in the face by someone else's punch, then he felt someone pull on his tail.

"I got her! I got her!" Theta shouted in the darkness.

"THAT'S ME YOU IDIOT!" Alpha shouted and Theta let him go.

"This is the problem with the plan I wanted to ask you about Alpha!" Beta was saying. Alpha swung and smacked Theta on the head. "Now get Peach!"

The three rushed the Toads and began fighting with the Toads, unfortunately they couldn't see what they were doing but neither could the Toads either. Most of the fight was audible through sound but not through sight. There were punches thrown and kicks swung but they couldn't tell what they were fighting, they could be fighting each other and not know.

Alpha knew he was on the right track when after feeling a human type face a high pitched voice squealed "Yipe! Get off of me!" Then Alpha felt a pull on his tail.

"I think I've got her tail!" Theta proclaimed.

"Tail?" Beta asked

"That's me again you idiots!" Alpha shouted into the darkness, their eyes were starting to become accustomed to this low light and he could make out the outline of two woman, one in peach the other yellow.

"Who has the sack?" Alpha asked, they'd brought a sack to put Peach in and carry her off.

"I have it!" Theta proclaimed enthusiastically as if to a teacher.

"Throw it over Peach, quick!" Alpha was turned around and got a swift uppercut from a Toad but Alpha heard a sack flap over someone.

"I've got her!" Theta proclaimed, at last he's done something right but there was no time to celebrate, they now had to get out of there!

"Okay, let's get out of here, run!"Alpha turned in the darkness and tried to make a run for it, but he ran into an person who he realised from the outline was Theta. "Theta, get out of the way!" After disengalging themselves Alpha, Beta and Theta high tailed it.

Alpha didn't know how they did it, how they had managed it but all three of them carrying Peach in a sack managed to retreat, get out of the castle, through Toad Town and were far away before the Toads knew what hit them. Koopa Squad for once had done something right and successful! Bowser would give them all medals for this, Karnage will then have more faith in them and give them all promotions, maybe Alpha can call himself Captain Alpha!

What he couldn't tell was that Alpha's big smile was about to be wiped off his face.

* * *

><p>Luigi went outside for a long breath of fresh air to clear his head. That lousy little Toadlop, the ignorant, irritating little fungus, there were things he could teach to athletes foot. Luigi tried to fight down his frustrations but they kept bubbling back up. Usually he was used to getting treated like second best, in fact worse, Yoshi was treated with more respect and he tried to eat anything that wasn't nailed down, in fact Yoshi would eat the nails first then eat the thing that was formerly nailed down. Maybe everyone was scared Yoshi would try to eat them if they said anything, he joked to himself.<p>

Luigi took another deep breath to clear his head and willed himself to think about something else other then his lousy reputation. How is it one little thing in your life defined who you were to people? Your teeth chatter and you shiver with fear in the face of the super natural in front of someone and suddenly you're a yellow, scaredy-cat. He was just as much of a hero as Mario was, even more so, Mario may not be scared of the same things Luigi is but Luigi pushes past his fear and gets the job done, eventually. So by that definition he was more brave then Mario but what frustrated him was that very few people shared that point of view and no matter how hard he tried to prove he was a brave hero he was always defined by his cowardice rather than his deeds.

Luigi took another deep breath, he was becoming obsessed and his thoughts were going around and around in circles. Luigi may be seen as just a joke and a coward, but Green Thunder was a hero, or will be once he's built up his reputation. Green Thunder was the hero he so wanted to be!

Luigi scratched the back of his head and felt his magic talisman of power shift in his hat.

Let the others say what they like about him, when Luigi put that mask on he was a different person, true everyone was scared of him and he didn't blame them. A man with magic powers turns up in the Mushroom Kingdom and beats up a pair of bullies then goes on to steal coins from Bowser to give to a orphanage only to rush back in and scare the living daylights out of them, you'd be mad not to. But soon Green Thunder will have his chance to shine, have his chance to prove to the entire Mushroom Kingdom that he, Luigi under the guise of Green Thunder was a true super hero. If he had that then Luigi could just smile politely and mysteriously at any insult hurled at him, just like Clark Kent and Superman, Bruice Wayne and Batman, Peter Parker and Spider-man.

And he was going to get his chance sooner then he thought.

As he walked back inside there was a lot of commotion going on as Toads rushed here, there and everywhere.

"Quick, quick!" some shouted "Alter the guard, alert the guard!"

Toadsworth stood in the middle of the corridor his hands in his face screaming "Oh, woe is me!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Luigi asked. Toadsworth looked at him and beamed with relief.

"Oh, master Luigi, what a relief! We've been attacked... and they've kidnapped Peach!" Toadsworth said hysterically, and he threw his head back and wailed in woe.

"Umm... Toadsworth" said a familiar voice as a tall woman in a Peach dress appeared from behind Toadsworth "I'm right here!" Peach was standing right behind him safe and sound.

Toadsworth quickly composed himself and cleared his throat "Peach? Where did you go, where were you?"

"Right behind you" Peach answered simply.

"Oh thank goodness, we are all safe and sound" Toadsworth said relief flooding into his voice. He took out a hankerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow "False alarm everyone, for a moment I feared Bowser had struck again and kidnapped someone. But I showed those foul Koopa's no one gets the slip on Toadsworth!"

"Umm... Toadsworth" a toad behind him said "I think they've taken Princess Daisy."

If there was such a time for a comical needle scratch, now was the time. Toadsworth stood froze a deadpan look of smugness on his face that slowly started to dissolve into one of utter horror. The suddenly the penny dropped "OH DEAR, OH DEAR!" He screamed smacking his left cheek and opened his mouth to say "Princess Daisy has been kidnapped!"

In the next second Toadsworth K. himself with worry and collapsed into a heap onto the floor. The toads in the corridor gathered around him concerned. One said "Daisy kidnapped? Those are words I thought he'd ever speak." Another toad nudged this one the ribs "You know what this means." "What?" the first asked "You owe me 20."

Luigi was just as concerned as the others was for Daisy's safety, he had... feelings for Daisy and he couldn't bare the feeling she was in any danger.

"Where is Mario?" a toad cried "He'll know what to do!"

"Ahem!" Luigi said clearing his throat.

"OF COURSE!" the toads cried in unison "Why didn't we think of this before! Luigi, do you know where Mario is?!"

"HEY!" Luigi cried in outrage "I mean, I'm here right now! I can go rescue Princess Daisy!" The toads all looked at him like he was joking, but when they realised Luigi was deadly serious they all came across a little patronising.

"Yeah, okay, I guess you can slow them down for Mario to catch up. They left through the north exit, hurry!" and with a keenness that surprised the toads Luigi turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could for the exit. Clearly they thought Luigi would hesitate to go after Daisy, but no, this was what Green Thunder was born for! He'll take care of the Koopas, rescue Daisy and Green Thunder will be known as a hero which means Luigi will be a hero and so on.

Luigi skidded to a halt behind a pillar, he looked left and right to make sure no one was watching and from under his hat he produced the Mask. This was it, his big moment, he willed himself deep down not to blow this, it was his big chance and he didn't know when another one would turn up. Looking into the back of the wooden magic talisman it glowed invitingly. Smiling Luigi tossed it into the air and watched it roll through the air before coming straight back down to land on his face. His body was again filled with the same familiar energy as before and the wooden Mask began to stretch over his head.

However, what Luigi didn't know was that his transformation was being observed.

* * *

><p>Turning a corner Toadrick has rushing to find Luigi because no one knew where to find Mario and hopefully Luigi would know where he is, so the Toads can find Mario while Luigi tracks down the Koopas. He also wanted to ask Luigi to send a signal when he's found them so assitance could be sent if needed.<p>

As he rounded the corner he saw Luigi, but just for a second. Something dark green landed on his face from the air and there was a loud flash and bang. Toadrick watched as the green thing began to stretch over his head and face and join at the back.

Fearing this was some kind of Koopa illusion or MagiKoopa trick Toadrick dived behind a column and viewed this strange specticle.

The person appeared to be Luigi, but now he appeared to have, what looked like a green bull frog stretched over his face. It began to glow a vivid shade of lime green. A slit opened up and a mouth full of tile white, base ball card sized teeth appeared from it.

"HERE... I... GO!" the mouth said, it was Luigi's voice! Then the figure that looked like Luigi and sounded like him disapeared in a fast whirl wind that surrounded him causing him to twist his form, the figure in the center of this twirling tornado screamed, taken by surprise by this sudden twisting force. Toadrick was certain it was Luigi as only Luigi screams like that. There were more flash and bags as the whirl of wind began to zoom this way and that.

The whirl of green that was Luigi's overalls faded to be replaced by a dark, mysterious blue. When the figure came to a total stop it wasn't Luigi in the eye of that mini storm. A green, rubber faced man in stylish clothes including a long, dark blue, frock coat and feradora hat with a feather in it appeared. He split his legs and dropped his body to do very impressive splits but using his hands he pushed himself back up and his legs closed. He then flung out his right hand and used his left to pull the rim of his hat down in a Michael Jackson style pose.

"OW, get down!..." the figure screamed now with an echo to his voice that now that Toadrick thought about it, sounded exactly like Luigi, only this new voice echos unearthly and dripped with confidence, ego and with a hint of someone who didn't have all his mind there. "Green Thunder is in town!"

Green Thunder then leaned back and chackelled a laugh before he brought his torso forward and he disappeared into a blur of dark, blue and green colour and moved straight past him at five times the speed of sound.

Toadrick just watched as this figure disapeared int othe distant corridors of Peach's castle. In his astonishment Toadrick could only bring one conclusion to this.

"Green Thunder is Luigi?!"

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors notes:<strong> Been a long time since I updated a story, and so far many have been asking me to update this one in particular to bring it up to the level of my sprite cartoon, and seeing as I spent a week in Costa-del-sol recently I decided to play catch up with some stories.

Hope the wait is worth it, and I hope season 2 of my sprite cartoon doesn't disapoint when it is released.

Cheers


End file.
